BOSTON, August 20, 2013—The Massachusetts Appeals Court today affirmed the conviction of the Lucerne Street Doggz associate who murdered 20-year-old Antoine Perkins in the aftermath of a drug rip seven years ago, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

In an unpublished decision, the appellate court upheld the second-degree murder conviction of JAMES “GUNNA” WALKER (D.O.B. 9/9/86), a member of the Lucerne Street Doggz who on July 22, 2006, shot Perkins in the head in retaliation for assistance the victim gave to a friend from whom Walker stole a large amount of marijuana.  Walker was convicted at trial in 2010 and is currently serving a life term.

“This is our goal in every case: not merely an arrest, not merely a conviction, but a case so strong and carefully built that it will withstand the scrutiny of an appellate court,” Conley said. “Antoine Perkins and his family deserve nothing less.”

In his appeal, Walker argued that the trial judge had erroneously barred him from fully questioning two witnesses.

The first witness was an associate who testified that Walker confessed to the murder as part of an agreement the witness made with the US Attorney’s office in a federal case alleging the distribution of crack cocaine.  The trial judge did not allow the defense to cross-examine the witness regarding additional charges he picked up after signing the federal plea agreement, ruling that the defense was given an adequate opportunity to impeach the witness’ credibility through questioning regarding prior convictions and his plea agreement.  In addition, the appeals court pointed out that the witness had already pleaded guilty to the federal charges and had no other cases pending at the time of trial.

“We are persuaded that this minor limitation of [the witness’] cross-examination was not an abuse of the trial judge’s considerable discretion,” the court ruled.

The trial judge also barred the defense from questioning a Boston Police sergeant about the murders of two other Lucerne Street Doggz members in the months leading up to Perkin’s killing.  The judge did, however, allow questions regarding an ongoing gang feud and violent tension between area gangs.  Walker argued that this ruling limited his ability to point to gang rivals as the culprit.

The appeals court concurred with the trial judge that there were no substantial links connecting the murder of Perkins to the prior unsolved murders of gang associates to a third party culprit.

“[T]he excluded evidence – that two Lucerne Street gang members had recently been shot in the head – without more, proves neither that rival gangs shot them, nor that the defendant did not,” the appeals court stated.

The appeals court further ruled that there was no error in the trial judge’s instructions to the jury.  Similarly, they found no error in the judge’s decision not to question potential jurors as to whether they would believe the testimony of a police officer over that of other witnesses.

“This argument is meritless,” the justices ruled.

Assistant District Attorney Sarah Montgomery of the DA’s Appellate Unit argued the case on appeal.  The Commonwealth was represented at trial by former Assistant District Attorney Edward Krippendorf.  Walker was represented on appeal by Theodore F. Riordan.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.