BOSTON, Nov. 19, 2013—A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted the Boston man who fatally shot 32-year-old Carl Bonnie during a 2009 drug deal, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

After about eight days of testimony and almost two days of deliberations, jurors found TREVOR “SPECIALIST” HIGGINS (D.O.B. 10/22/74) guilty of second-degree murder and unlawful possession of a shotgun in connection with Bonnie’s Nov. 12, 2009 shooting death.  Sentencing will take place Friday, at which time Judge Judith Fabricant is expected to impose the mandatory sentence for second-degree murder of life in prison with the possibility of parole. 

Higgins took the verdict stoically, shaking hands with one of his attorneys after jurors left the courtroom – and then, in an unusual twist, moved to shake the hand of the prosecutor who tried his case. As a cadre of court officers looked on, he did so quietly and briskly before being led to the lockup.

Higgins and a co-defendant, GREGORY “BUDDHA” KNIGHT (D.O.B. 5/16/82), were both accused in Bonnie’s homicide, with Higgins charged as the shooter and Knight accused of working in concert with him.  Knight pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year for his role in the slaying and is currently serving a nine-year state prison sentence.

Assistant District Attorney David Fredette of the DA’s Homicide Unit presented evidence and testimony to prove that Knight sent text messages to Bonnie directing him to an apartment at 69 Clifford St. in Roxbury in order to conduct a drug deal.  Witnesses placed both Higgins and Knight at the apartment in the moments leading up to the shooting.  The evidence showed that Higgins was armed with a shotgun.

Minutes after Bonnie arrived, the evidence showed, Higgins fired a single shot, striking him in the face.  He was later pronounced dead at the scene. Higgins and Knight were then seen running from the apartment after the shooting and, in the days that followed, fled to Lewiston, Maine, where they were ultimately apprehended.

Katherine Moran is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  Higgins was represented by attorneys John Palmer and Bruce Carroll.

–30–

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