“What’s a human life worth?” a Suffolk County prosecutor asked a Superior Court jury this morning during opening statements in the murder trial of a man accused of the 2006 fatal shooting of retired Cambridge Police Officer Myles “Tony” Lawton and the non-fatal of Lawton’s friend during an alleged robbery.

“This man, MICHAEL COLLINS, was able to answer that question on Dec. 5, 2006,” Assistant District Attorney David Fredette said. “His answer was about $40,000.”

Collins is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, armed assault with intent to murder, and unlawful possession of a firearm for his role in the incident at Lawton’s Dorchester home.

Fredette told the court that Collins (D.O.B. 11/5/79), also known as “Goody,” walked into the 62-year-old victim’s Florida Street apartment with “a 9 millimeter semi-automatic pistol in his hand and malice in his heart” when he shot and killed Lawton, and wounded his then 33-year-old friend.

“Michael Collins made a mistake,” Fredette said. “He left witnesses.”

“Specifically, and most importantly, he left [the surviving victim] alive,” the prosecutor continued. Despite taking three gunshot wounds to the chest area – including a gunshot wound to his hand when he put his hand over his chest after being shot – that man lived, and with blood coming from his mouth was able to identify the shooter to police.

“He said it was ‘Goody’ who shot him,” Fredette said, using the defendant’s nickname.

Fredette told the court that Collins and the surviving victim knew each other prior to the shooting, as they were both frequent patrons of the Glass Slipper, a strip club in what was once Boston’s Combat Zone. Collins’ girlfriend, Fredette said, was a dancer at the club; the surviving victim favored a particular dancer who was that woman’s roommate.

In the days and weeks leading up to Dec. 5, 2006, the surviving victim had discussions with Collins about purchasing cocaine. The two men made plans to meet at Lawton’s Florida Street apartment to make the exchange.

“This was a set up,” Fredette said of the meeting.

Evidence suggests that the surviving victim went to Lawton’s Florida Street apartment on that winter evening to wait for the defendant to arrive with an estimated two kilograms of cocaine. The surviving victim and Lawton had been friends for several years.

Collins arrived to the area in a rented Mercury Mountaineer. The surviving victim met him outside and noticed that he was wearing a distinct black and blue New York Mets baseball jacket. The two men then walked together into the Florida Street apartment.

Upon entering, prosecutors allege, Collins asked to see the money. When the surviving victim asked to see the cocaine, the defendant allegedly replied that he would need to go back and get it.

Collins left the apartment for a period of time. When he returned, Lawton answered the door and allegedly had a brief conversation with the defendant. Collins then attempted to take the money – approximately $40,000 – that was on a table in the living room. Lawton is said to have become involved in a struggle with the defendant; during the course of the struggle, Collins shot Lawton once in the head. After killing Lawton, Collins then shot the surviving victim at least three times before fleeing the apartment with the money.

Fredette told jurors that a married couple who lived in a downstairs apartment heard a commotion coming from Lawton’s apartment, and walked out into the hallway to see what was happening. Collins ran past the couple exclaiming, “Yo dude, I got a gun,” as he fled the apartment, Fredette said.

The neighbors had never seen Collins before, Fredette said, but they were able to provide a description of the defendant to police that corroborated the surviving victim’s description – in particular, they observed him wearing a jacket consistent with the New York Mets baseball team logo and colors. They also told police that he was carrying a package in his left hand, Fredette said.

Collins fled the scene in the Mercury. Investigators were later able to trace that vehicle to a rental car agency, and discovered that Collins’ girlfriend had rented the SUV on the same day as the murder, Fredette said. On the day following the murder, she returned the car and traded it for another vehicle, he said, and the defendant later fled to Washington, D.C., where he was apprehended on Dec. 21.

“A New York Mets jacket was found in the back seat of the car,” Fredette said. Authorities also found “business cards on the defendant with the name ‘Goody’ on the business cards,” he said.

In January of 2007, about one month after the shooting, a discarded firearm was found near the ramp of Route 93 at the Granite Avenue exit, Fredette said. Massachusetts State Police tested the firearm and sent it for ballistics testing. Shell casings recovered from the Florida Street crime scene were matched to the recovered weapon. Shell casings from another shooting that happened in Chelsea in July of 2006 also matched the weapon, Fredette said. One of the victims of the Chelsea shooting also identified the shooter as “Goody” and picked Collins out of a photo array, he told jurors.

“All evidence points to one person and one person only,” Fredette told jurors, as he pointed at the defendant. “The defendant, Michael Collins, who was known to everyone as ‘Goody’, shot and killed Myles Lawton on Dec. 5, 2006, shot and wounded [the surviving victim] on Dec. 5, 2006, stole money out of the apartment, and shot [the Chelsea shooting victim] with the very same gun in Chelsea, Massachusetts,” he said.

Collins is represented by attorney Rosemary Scapicchio. Prosecution testimony is ongoing before Superior Court Judge Raymond Brassard in courtroom 907.