Co-Defendant Also Gets Prison Time
BOSTON, Nov. 28, 2010—Two men convicted yesterday in connection with Toneika Jones’ murder were sentenced to prison today, with one of them ordered to serve a life term, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Judith Fabricant sentenced KADEEM FOREMAN (D.O.B. 8/6/89) to life in prison, the mandatory punishment for second-degree murder. A jury convicted Foreman of that offense yesterday, along with charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for shooting at another victim who was injured less seriously. Fabricant sentenced Foreman to shorter concurrent sentences for those convictions.
“It won’t undo Toneika’s loss,” Conley said, “but it does drive home the gravity of this defendant’s actions and the irrevocable nature of deadly violence.”
Conley’s office recommended that Foreman’s co-defendant, TERRELL RAINEY (D.O.B. 8/14/89), serve 10 to 15 years in state prison on the manslaughter conviction that jurors also returned yesterday. Fabricant sentenced him to three to five years.
During 10 days of testimony, Assistant District Attorneys Mark Zanini and Nicholas Walsh introduced evidence and testimony proving that Foreman opened fire on Jones and the second victim, a 19-year-old man, as they stood in the foyer of 183 Harvard St. just before 1:15 a.m. on May 22, 2010. Prosecutors also proved that Rainey participated in the homicide as well.
Jones ran up a flight of stairs inside the building and collapsed on the second floor. She was transported to Boston Medical Center, where she died of a fatal gunshot wound to her abdomen. The second victim was shot in the arm and survived. He did not identify his assailants.
A Boston Police officer conducting unrelated surveillance nearby heard the gunfire and spotted two men backing away from the scene. He saw the taller of the two – now identified as Foreman – fire at least one more shot into the foyer before turning and running with the second man.
The officer gave chase, first in his marked cruiser and then on foot. Additional officers raced to the scene and began searching for the suspects as well. Within five minutes of the shooting, both Foreman and Rainey were apprehended as they tried to hide behind some trees in an empty lot on Gleason Street.
A search of the area soon turned up a .38 caliber revolver and a .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun at separate locations along the defendants’ path of flight. Ballistics comparisons showed that both guns had been fired at the victims. A third firearm – the one that fired the shots that struck the victims – was never recovered.
Michael Schultz was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate on the case. Foreman and Rainey were represented by attorneys Michael Doolin and Stephen Weymouth, respectively.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
