Grand Jury Investigation Led to Overnight Arrests

BOSTON, July 3, 2014— Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley and Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans and today announced the indictments and arrests of two brothers in the March 1 stabbing death of Christopher Borgella outside a Dorchester hotel.

As a result of continued efforts by Boston Police and Suffolk prosecutors, the Suffolk County Grand Jury on Tuesday returned indictments charging HAROLD COLEMAN (D.O.B. 3/19/88) of Dorchester and SHAWN COLEMAN (D.O.B. 2/26/92) of Boston’s South End with second-degree murder in the 23-year-old Dorchester man’s slaying. Harold Coleman is additionally charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of property; Shawn Coleman is additionally charged with one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

At their arraignment today, Assistant District Attorney Masai King told the court that the defendants, the victim, and others were at a party at the DoubleTree Hotel on Mount Vernon Street in Dorchester on the night of Feb. 28 into March 1. A fight between the defendants’ group and the victims’ group broke out.

After responding to the room multiple times, hotel staff asked the group to leave the premises. The respective groups went outside and became involved in a physical altercation in the parking lot, where Harold Coleman allegedly used a detachable steering wheel to beat two friends of the victim.

In the course of the brawl, King said, Borgella produced a knife but did not use it on anyone. Prosecutors say he gave the knife to a friend, who later threw it at the defendants’ group before he and his own group retreated into a car. Harold Coleman allegedly struck that car with the detachable steering wheel several times, cracking the windshield and shattering the front passenger’s side window.

Harold Coleman and Shawn Coleman allegedly renewed the attack, and it was during this encounter that Borgella sustained multiple stab wounds that would claim his life at Boston Medical Center. Another victim sustained a stab wound that was not life-threatening; investigators believe he was unarmed at the time.

In addition to gathering witness statements, investigators recovered a knife from the scene of the incident. Testing by Boston Police criminalists revealed that it contained three DNA profiles – those of Borgella and the surviving victim on the blade, and that of Shawn Coleman on the handle. Investigators obtained warrants for both men on Tuesday after the indictments were returned, and members of the Boston Police Fugitive Unit apprehended both of them within 24 hours.

King recommended that both men be held without bail. Clerk Magistrate Gary D. Wilson imposed $250,000 cash bail for each defendant and ordered them to return to court on Aug. 21 with defense attorneys Jonathan Shapiro and Jack Miller.

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