BOSTON, Dec. 3, 2014—Two years and a day after 25-year-old Alexander Callahan was brutally beaten to death inside the Suffolk County House of Correction, his killer was sentenced to spend the next 20 years in prison, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury last month convicted LESLEY JURCZUK (D.O.B. 10/15/61) of voluntary manslaughter in Callahan’s beating death.  Judge Charles Hely today imposed sentenced Jurczuk to 18 to 20 years in prison – the maximum sentence allowed under the law and that recommended by First Assistant District Attorney Patrick Haggan.  Jurczuk’s attorney sought a sentence of four to seven years.

During the course of the 10-day trial, Haggan presented evidence and testimony to prove that Jurczuk and Callahan shared a cell in a low-security unit inside the Suffolk County House of Correction on Dec. 2, 2012; at the time, Jurczuk was serving a two-and-a-half-year term for domestic assault and battery, while Callahan was a few months from finishing a one-year sentence for assault.

On the day of Callahan’s death, the two became involved in an argument over a comment Callahan made regarding Jurczuk’s hygiene.

Surveillance cameras within the facility captured video directly outside the shared cell as a third cell mate exited at approximately 4:30 p.m., then as the door pulled shut and the lights turned off with Callahan and Jurczuk inside.  Minutes later, only Jurczuk emerged.  The images captured him walk to a bathroom, where he tossed out his bloody shirt and cleaned up before going to dinner.

The surveillance images show no one enter or exit the cell until Jurczuk’s return from dinner; he walked in and then out again and approached a corrections officer to tell him there was a man on the floor of the cell, the evidence showed.  Callahan’s body was discovered inside the cell with massive traumatic injuries.  The cause of death was determined to be multiple blunt force trauma injuries to the head and neck.

Prior to imposing today’s sentence, Hely received 16 written impact statements from members of Callahan’s family – including those read to the court by his father, aunts, cousin, and girlfriend.

“Alex will forever be 25 with no culmination to the story of success that his life could have been,” his father told the court.

“This tragic crime reminds us every day in how Alex left this world.  Alex had such a short life.  It’s been very hard these past two years not being able to see Alex.  We feel a sense of emptiness in our hearts.  We won’t see him at birthday parties, family gatherings, or holidays.  Our family will never be the same,” Callahan’s aunt said in an impact statement.

Jennifer Sears was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  Jurczuk was represented by Timothy Flaherty.

–30–

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