An East Boston man will spend the rest of his life in prison for shooting 28-year-old Jeff Santiago to death and injuring two other men during a “rampage” in a Chelsea strip club two years ago, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.
<p></p>A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted JESSE CAMACHO (D.O.B. 5/7/87) of first-degree murder for Santiago’s Jan. 25, 2008, shooting death at King Arthur’s Lounge and two counts of attempted murder for shooting and injuring two other men during the same incident. One of those victims was an associate of Santiago and the other was an employee of the club.
<p></p>Superior Court Judge Patrick Brady sentenced Camacho to the mandatory life term without the possibility of parole for Santiago’s murder, plus two additional terms of 10 to 12 years for the non-fatal shootings. At the request of Conley’s chief trial counsel, Patrick M. Haggan, Brady ordered those sentences to run consecutively.
<p></p>Haggan proved during two straight weeks of trial that Camacho and Santiago were present with separate groups of associates when a member of Santiago’s party approached a member of Camacho’s party and struck him with a beer bottle. Camacho, then 19, pulled a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun and began firing.
<p></p>“He showed utter disregard for human life,” Conley said. “The proof is in the fact that not one of the three victims was involved in that altercation, and that Mr. Santiago sustained his fatal injuries as he lay helpless on the floor.”
<p></p>Trial testimony indicated that Santiago was struck in the leg and fell to the ground. While he was on the ground, the evidence showed, Camacho pumped two more bullets into his side and back, killing him, before running from the club.
<p></p>Witnesses testified that Camacho continued to pull the trigger even after emptying it of seven rounds.
<p></p>Camacho then fled the area, spending several months in Mexico before being apprehended in Mexico City in October 2008. He was arrested after non-stop efforts by Chelsea Police, State Police, U.S. Marshals, and Mexican Federales to locate him.
<p></p>Michael Schultz was the DA’s victim-witness advocate on the case. Camacho was represented by attorney Willie Davis.
