BOSTON, May 13, 2015—The man who murdered Robert Mason in 1997 was denied a new trial by the state’s highest court this week, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

In a 31-page decision authored by Justice Francis Spina, the Supreme Judicial Court yesterday denied the appeal of JEFFREY VAUGHN, who was convicted of first-degree murder under the theory of deliberate premeditated murder in 1999 for Mason’s shooting death.  At trial, prosecutors presented evidence and testimony to prove that, just weeks after being released from prison, Vaughn joined Mason and two other men in a Dorchester schoolyard on the night of Nov. 29, 1997.  There, Vaughn confronted Mason about a prior incident in which Mason allegedly assaulted Vaughn’s brother. Vaughn produced a firearm during the incident but put the gun away after another member of the group intervened.  When that individual turned his back on the group, Vaughn pulled out the firearm once again and shot Mason.  After Mason fell to the ground, Vaughn shot him several more times. 

On appeal, Vaughn argued that a Superior Court judge was wrong to deny his motion for a new trial.  The justices disagreed, rejecting each of Vaughn’s claims and affirming his conviction.

Among his claims, Vaughn argued that prosecutors did not turn over grand jury minutes in an unrelated investigation involving a victim who later testified that Vaughn confessed to Mason’s murder.  Suffolk prosecutors presented transcripts from Vaughn’s trial in which his attorney referenced information that could only have been gleaned from those documents, directly contradicting Vaughn’s claim.  The justices further found that access to minutes and reports related to the unrelated investigation would not have presented a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice.

“The issue at trial here was the identity of the person who shot Robert Mason. [This individual] did not witness that shooting. His bias and prior contradictory testimony already had been considered by the jury in weighing his testimony as to the defendant’s jailhouse confession and likely would not have affected the trial’s outcome,” the justices wrote.

Vaughn also claimed that a Superior Court judge erred in denying his motion for a new trial based on affidavits written in 2000 and 2008 by an individual who claimed to have witnessed another person murder Mason.  Spina wrote that the judge was within his discretion to find that the affidavits were not credible based in part on the lack of identifying information for the affiant – such as date of birthdate and address – and the affiant’s failure to approach police with claims that an innocent man was imprisoned.  Additional evidence suggested that Vaughn previously attempted to convince another witness to sign affidavits that Vaughn himself composed.

“The judge also acknowledged the Commonwealth’s presentation of a letter addressed to [the defendant’s brother] from the defendant and an unsigned affidavit accompanying the letter. In the letter, the defendant strongly asks [his brother] to sign the affidavit which the defendant had prepared in [his brother’s] name,” Spina wrote. “On these bases, the judge simply refused to believe anything contained within the affidavits. On these facts, we cannot say that the judge’s decision not to give weight to the affidavits was the product of an error of law or an abuse of the judge’s discretion.”

The justices likewise found no merit to Vaughn’s several claims that his trial attorney was ineffective.

Assistant District Attorney Teresa Anderson of the DA’s Appellate Unit argued the case on appeal.  Vaughn was represented by Eileen Agnes.

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