In Separate Case, Appeals Court Sets Stage for Alleged Fratricide Prosecution

 BOSTON, March 21, 2014—A one-time Roslindale resident is behind bars today after pleading guilty to a gun possession charge more than a decade after he was arrested, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

JOSE SANTANA (D.O.B. 1/28/79) pleaded guilty in the Boston Municipal Court today to one count each of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number stemming from his Oct. 2, 2003, arrest in Chinatown. He was sentenced to one year in a house of correction – the minimum mandatory term for that offense at the time he committed it.

Boston Police on routine patrol stopped Santana after watching him take part in what appeared to be a drug transaction on La Grange Street. During a pat-frisk, an officer felt an item in Santana’s waistband consistent with a firearm. When asked what it was, Santana stated that it was a handgun. The officer then placed him under arrest.

The case against Santana languished for years, however – first because Judge Raymond Dougan, Jr., suppressed the .38 caliber Colt Cobra revolver from evidence in a decision that was reversed by the Massachusetts Appeals Court two years later, and then because Santana defaulted at subsequent court dates. He was arrested again in Falmouth on March 7, leading to his appearance in court today.

“Time after time, defendants learn the hard way that we don’t give up on these cases,” Conley said. “If we have the evidence, we’re going to pursue a gun charge no matter how long it takes.”

While Santana’s case was pending, Conley noted, prosecutors successfully lobbied the Legislature to increase the minimum mandatory penalty for possessing a firearm to 18 months, and a whole new mechanism for prosecuting that offense – the Suffolk County Gun Court – was created.

In an unrelated case also bearing on the passage of time between offense and disposition, the Massachusetts Appeals Court today found that two brothers did not have their rights to speedy trials violated by a lengthy delay preceding their arraignments on indictments for the murder of a third brother.

The Appeals Court reversed a Suffolk Superior Court order dismissing a murder charge against NICKOYAN WALLACE (D.O.B. 9/9/74) and affirmed an order denying dismissal of a murder charge against his brother, TIMI WALLACE (D.O.B. 7/22/72). Both are charged in the March 26, 2000, shooting death of Tasfa Wallace in Dorchester. District court complaints issued against the defendants the very next day, but the men fled the state. They later robbed a Rhode Island gun store and were charged in federal court: Nickoyan was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison in early 2002, while Timi remained a fugitive until 2004 and was later sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.

Only in 2009, after Suffolk prosecutors sought to arraign the defendants on their murder charges, did either defendant invoke his right to a speedy trial. In fact, the Appeals Court found, “they refused to sign forms requesting speedy trials” on the Suffolk cases, and “the record strongly indicates that neither defendant wanted a speedy trial.” A decision authored by Justice R. Malcolm Graham ruled that “the defendants were not deprived of their due process rights to a speedy trial.”

Assistant District Attorney David Bradley prosecuted the Santana case. Assistant District Attorney Sarah Montgomery argued the Wallace cases before the Appeals Court. Assistant District Attorney Ursula Knight litigated those defendants’ motions to dismiss in Superior Court.

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