A gang member who went on the run rather than testify against his associates was sentenced to two ten-year terms for his role in the homicides of Jose DaVeiga, shot to death in 2003, and Christopher Carvalho, who was paralyzed during the same incident but did not die of his injuries until 2007, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

DANIEL FERNANDES (D.O.B. 1/16/85) of Dorchester pleaded guilty today to two counts of manslaughter for driving the minivan from which two gunmen fired on a vehicle in which DaVeiga and Carvalho were traveling on East Berkeley Street on the morning of April 28, 2003.

One of those gunmen, ODAIR FERNANDES (D.O.B. 8/16/83), was convicted at his 2006 trial of first-degree murder for Daveiga’s death and armed assault with intent to murder for the shooting that would lead to Carvalho’s death at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital almost a full year later.

Daniel Fernandes and CARLOS SILVA (D.O.B. 3/4/83), the alleged wheelman of a second vehicle involved in the shooting, were indicted as accessories to the shootings with the agreement that they would testify against principals Odair Fernandes, HENRIQUE LOPES (D.O.B. 6/26/83), and another alleged gunman, JOSE LOPES (D.O.B. 7/6/83). Instead, both fled the area and Suffolk homicide prosecutors were forced to temporarily withdraw murder charges against the latter two defendants.

Conley’s office deemed the agreements with both drivers null and void when they failed to appear for trial. Both were subsequently indicted for the victims’ homicides. Additionally, with Odair Fernandes serving life without parole plus an additional 18 years, Conley said, prosecutors have said that they have not ruled out re-indicting Henrique and Jose Lopes for DaVeiga’s murder and a new homicide charge stemming from Carvalho’s death.

Prior to sentencing, Carvalho’s mother, Domingua Carvalho, said that he was “a wonderful son” who would bring his daughter over every weekend.

“People used to tell me all the time how nice he was,” she said.

When he was shot, she said, she would visit him every day to assist him in even the most basic actions and would lie awake at night wondering if he was comfortable in his bed.

“Sometimes at night, you want to turn over, turn on your side, to get comfortable,” she said. “When I think about my son, I think, ‘he can’t turn by himself’ …. He suffered so much, and the family suffered with him.”

Evidence developed in the course of an extensive investigation by Suffolk prosecutors and Boston Police homicide detectives showed that Carvalho and DaVeiga were killed in the course of a longstanding feud between two rival groups in Dorchester’s Cape Verdean community. The defendants and their associates comprised one faction, while the victims were acquainted with members of another. Prosecutors do not believe the assailants had any specific vendetta against either DaVeiga or Carvalho, Conley said.

Early on the morning of the incident, associates of the defendants heard that some rivals were at a nightclub in Chinatown. Daniel Fernandes and Carlos Silva drove the group there in separate vehicles and parked near the club. In one vehicle were driver Carlos Silva and Jose Lopes; in the other were driver Daniel Fernandes, Odair Fernandes, and Henrique Lopes.

As the victims left the club, the defendants followed them south on Albany Street to the East Berkeley Street intersection. As the victims’ car slowed for a red light, Silva allegedly pulled alongside it and a passenger believed to be Jose Lopes fired a series of 9mm rounds at them. The driver of the victims’ car attempted to pull away from the shooter and onto East Berkeley Street but collided with a parked car.

When the victims’ vehicle stopped, Daniel Fernandes pulled onto East Berkeley alongside it. Odair Fernandes – and, prosecutors say, Henrique Lopes – at that time fired multiple shots into their car.

DaVeiga was struck three times in the upper body and Carvalho twice in the head and neck. Both men were transported to Boston Medical Center, where DaVeiga was pronounced dead of his injuries and Carvalho was found to be paralyzed from the neck down.

Within an hour of the shooting, Boston Police stopped Daniel Fernandes’ vehicle, obtained a Boston Municipal Court search warrant, and recovered a firearm and shell casings consistent with the victims’ injuries and evidence at the scene.

For the next four years, Carvalho remained hospitalized at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain, where he was confined to a bed and reliant upon a machine to provide him with oxygen. On the night of Sept. 23, he died of pneumonia exacerbated by the paralysis that was a direct result of his shooting four years and five months earlier.

Carvalho was the fifth cousin from a single family to die from violent crime. He was preceded by Bobby Mendes in 1995; Larry Andrade in 1996; Luis Carvalho in 2000; and Alex “Matthew” Mendes in 2006.

Chief Trial Counsel Patrick Haggan led the grand jury investigation into the incident, prosecuted Odair Fernandes, and took Daniel Fernandes’ plea. Marisela Ramirez was the victim witness advocate assigned to the investigation and trial; Kara Hayes, chief of Conley’s Victim Witness Assistance Program, has been assigned in its aftermath. Attorney Stephen Weymouth represented Daniel Fernandes.