BOSTON, May 16, 2016—Two brothers whose joint actions led to the stabbing death of 23-year-old Christopher Borgella were convicted of his murder today, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted HAROLD COLEMAN (D.O.B. 3/19/88) of Dorchester and SHAWN COLEMAN (D.O.B. 2/26/92) of Boston’s South End of second-degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in the 2014 homicide during a brawl outside a Dorchester hotel. The men face mandatory life terms at a sentencing hearing next week.

During nine days of testimony, Assistant District Attorneys Masai King and Tonya Platt introduced evidence and testimony proving 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, 2014, into March 1, 2014. 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 and Shawn Coleman attacked him. Borgella suffered a fatal stab wound in that attack, and two other men suffered non-fatal injuries after the defendants beat and stabbed them.

Erin O’Connor was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Harold and Shawn Coleman were represented by attorneys Jonathan Shapiro and Frank Camera. Judge Linda Giles will sentence them on May 24 in courtroom 907 of Suffolk Superior Court.

–30–

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