Five years to the day after 14-year-old Da-Keem Galloway was murdered in Roxbury, a witness who lied at the killer’s trial was sentenced to as many as eight years in prison for his perjured testimony, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

KYRICE GRADY (D.O.B. 9/26/85) of Dorchester pleaded guilty before Suffolk Superior Court Judge Judith Fabricant for lying under oath at the 2007 trial of CHARON RAY (D.O.B. 7/16/87). She sentenced him to a term of six to eight years in state prison to be followed by three years of probation.

“This is a warning to anyone who would lie under oath, whether it’s in the grand jury or at trial,” Conley said. “We will charge you, indict you, and ask the court for state prison time. We won’t let you thwart the rule of law. Judge Fabricant recognized the seriousness of this case and we hope other judges will follow suit in similar cases.”

Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney Amy Galatis would have introduced evidence and testimony to prove that Grady knew the killer, was aware of his running dispute with the 14-year-old victim, and was a percipient witness to the June 10, 2004, slaying. Galatis would also have shown that Grady was arrested on a gun charge a few months before the murder trial began.

Prosecutors would have shown that Grady demanded favorable treatment for that gun charge or, he said, he would “dummy up” at Ray’s murder trial. Suffolk prosecutors assigned to the case refused to make a deal.

True to his word, Grady took the stand in June 2007 and denied any knowledge of the conflict between Ray and Galloway. He denied having seen Ray before and denied being in the area of the shooting on the day it occurred. The trial jury nonetheless convicted Ray of first-degree murder; he is now serving a life term without the possibility of parole.

“Kyrice Grady chose to pick up a gun,” Conley said. “He chose to lie on the stand. Had he made different choices, he might have been relocated to start a life somewhere else. That’s a decision he can think about in the years to come.”

Grady was represented by attorney Lawrence Kelly.