Suffolk County homicide prosecutors today filed paperwork withdrawing charges against three men previously charged with murder after two witnesses critical to proving the case died in unrelated events.

A nolle prosequi – a legal document terminating prosecution – was filed in the case against JEMALD ALLEN (D.O.B. 8/5/78) of Roxbury; his nephew, RODERICK ALLEN (D.O.B. 2/14/85) of Mattapan; and ANTOIN FIELDS (D.O.B. 9/7/79) of Dorchester. The three were indicted early last year for the Sept. 4, 2004, shooting deaths of Angelo Henderson, Jaison Jenkins, and Anthony Williams after a cookout at Franklin Field.

Prosecutors were forced to terminate the current prosecution after two witnesses died unexpectedly last year. Neither death is linked to the defendants’ prosecution or any of the parties involved: one died after a fight in Lewiston, Maine, and the other died of natural causes. Since then, prosecutors scrutinized the case to determine whether it would be possible to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt without the men’s testimony at trial, finally determining that “the Commonwealth … would be unlikely to sustain its burden of proof at this time.”

Prosecutors notified the defendants’ attorneys of the witnesses’ deaths earlier this year and informed them of their decision to file the paperwork today.

The nolle prosequi does, however, allow prosecutors to bring the charges again should the state of the evidence change. For this reason, investigators once again urge anyone with information on the slayings – which took place at about 10:00 p.m. and followed an earlier non-fatal shooting – to come forward by contacting the Boston Police Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470, calling the CrimeStoppers tip line at 1-800-494-TIPS, or texting the word “TIP” to CRIME (27463).