BOSTON, Jan. 19, 2018—A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted a Brighton man of murder in connection with the fatal shooting of 26-year-old LeRoy Cooper, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

After a week of trial and about a day of deliberations, jurors found PATRICK MALONE (D.O.B. 6/28/91) guilty of second-degree murder and unarmed robbery for Cooper’s Nov. 19, 2012, homicide. He faces a mandatory life term next week.

LeRoy Cooper, 26, of Brighton was shot to death during a robbery in 2012

“Mr. Cooper’s loved ones have spent five long years waiting to see justice done on his behalf,” Conley said. “No verdict can give them what they want and deserve most of all, which is for him to come back to their loving arms, but I hope they can take some comfort and satisfaction in this result.”

Assistant District Attorney Julie Higgins of the DA’s Homicide Unit introduced eyewitness testimony, cell phone records, text messages, GPS records, and other evidence proving that Malone and another man led Cooper to believe they would buy marijuana from him but instead undertook a plan to rob him. Together, the assailants directed Cooper to Morrow Road in Brighton, where they shot him.

Another man, ROBERT WILLIAMS (D.O.B. 5/10/91), was indicted along with Malone but a judge granted a motion to sever their cases last year. Williams was tried separately and acquitted in September.

Malone was represented by attorney Earl Howard. Judge Christopher Muse will sentence him on Monday at 2:00 in courtroom 806 of Suffolk Superior Court.

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