A Suffolk Superior Court clerk magistrate today ordered that a Hyde Park man be held on high bail following his arraignment on murder charges for his role in the shooting death of 17-year-old Roniel Marc during a gun battle last year, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced today.

At today’s hearing, KEVIN LOUIS (D.O.B. 7/2/87) was formally charged with second-degree murder for the July 4, 2008, incident. Louis was indicted on multiple weapons charges in connection with this case, and was already in custody on $100,000 cash bail for those gun offenses. Assistant District Attorney Daniel Mulhern asked Clerk Magistrate Robin Vaughan to increase the bail to $500,000 to reflect the seriousness of the second-degree murder charge; Vaughan accommodated the Commonwealth’s request.

Mulhern told the court that on the evening of July 4 last year, Louis was at a barbeque in the area of Wood Avenue and Edwardson Street in Hyde Park.

Louis “attended that barbeque with a loaded firearm,” he said.

At about 7:30 p.m., Louis became involved in a verbal argument with Marc. The argument soon escalated to the point where “both men pulled out firearms and exchanged gunfire,” Mulhern said.

Mulhern noted that ballistics evidence that was recovered from the scene, together with evidence developed in the course of a year-long investigation and through the grand jury, indicates that Louis pursued Marc through several backyards, firing his weapon multiple times during that pursuit. A third person – who has not yet been unidentified, but whose identity remains under active investigation – also discharged his or her weapon in the gun battle, Mulhern said.

“The victim suffered, at some point, a bullet wound to the back of the head,” Mulhern said. “The third, unidentified person who entered and engaged in the gun fight is believed to have fired the fatal shot.”

Mulhern told the court that the grand jury investigation remains open in hopes of identifying the third gunman. He said that when Louis chose to “engage in a gun battle on a crowded city street, he is responsible for the consequences” of that action.

Though he is not alleged to have fired the fatal shot, Louis is charged with Marc’s murder under the same theory used to convict MANUEL ANDRADE for the 2007 homicide of Chiara Levin in Dorchester – that he took part in a shootout in a public place and is responsible for the death that ensued as a result.

“Where the defendant chooses to engage in a gun battle with another with the intent to kill or do grievous bodily harm and a third party is killed, the defendant may be held liable for the homicide even if it was the defendant’s opponent who fired the fatal shot,” the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts wrote in its 1997 decision on Commonwealth v. Felix Santiago.

DUHAMEL CASSAGNIOL (D.O.B. 12/1/87) of Milton was indicted on August 12 for unlawful possession of a firearm in connection with this incident. Prosecutors allege that Cassagniol possessed and transferred to Marc a handgun that Marc used during the gunfight in which he was killed. Cassagniol is expected to be arraigned at a later date.

Louis is represented by attorney Christopher Belezos. He is expected to return to court on October 8.