BOSTON, July 20, 2016—The state’s highest court has denied a new trial for the man who robbed, beat, and murdered 15-year-old Germaine Rucker but ordered that the killer be resentenced because he was a juvenile at the time of the homicide, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

KENTEL WEAVER (D.O.B. 7/29/87), who was 16 when he shot and killed Rucker in 2003, is currently serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury in 2006 convicted him of first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.  He will continue to serve his life sentence, but will become eligible for parole as a result of the resentencing ordered by the Supreme Judicial Court.

In his appeal, Weaver argued that his confession to the murder was not made willfully or voluntarily as a result of his mother’s pressure to tell the truth to Boston Police homicide detectives.  The justices rejected the claim, noting that not only did jurors at his trial consider evidence regarding the circumstance of the confession, but also the extensive evidence corroborating Weaver’s statements identifying himself as the killer.

“In addition to the defendant’s admission, the Commonwealth presented evidence at trial linking the defendant to the murder, including testimony that (1) a young man was seen fleeing from the scene of the shooting; (2) the young man had a firearm fitting the description of a revolver in his possession as he fled; (3) the young man was wearing a distinctive baseball cap, which fell to the ground; (4) the cap belonged to the defendant; and (5) the victim and the defendant were known to each other,” the justices wrote.

Weaver also argued that his trial attorney was ineffective for failing to consult with an expert or elicit testimony at trial that the defendant’s free will was overborne by his mother.  The court rejected the argument and instead agreed with the findings of a judge who previously considered Weaver’s earlier motion for a new trial and determined that the expert testimony was neither admissible nor necessary.

“[W]e agree with the first new trial motion judge’s determination that the parent-child dynamic is generally familiar to a fact finder, and that the likelihood of a child being influenced by a parent is not a matter outside the common understanding of the average juror, nor is the proposition that a parent may exert pressure on his or her child a novel one. Thus, the jury’s evaluation of whether the defendant’s statements were psychologically coerced by his mother ‘could be accomplished through its common understanding without need of expert testimony,’” the justices wrote, citing an earlier decision.

The court similarly rejected Weaver’s claim that he is entitled to a new trial because the courtroom was closed to the public as a jury was selected for his 2006 trial.  The justices found that, although the courtroom was closed to the public and that Weaver’s attorney failed to raise an objection, it caused no substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice and was not grounds for a new trial.

The justices found that while Weaver is not entitled to a new trial, his status as a juvenile at the time he murdered Rucker entitles him to parole eligibility after 15 years of his life sentence, consistent with a decision issued by the court in 2013 requiring that juvenile defendants be afforded the meaningful opportunity for parole.  The case was remanded to Superior Court for resentencing at a later date.

Jurors in 2006 convicted Weaver after hearing evidence and testimony proving that Weaver was among a group of individuals who attacked Rucker on Wendover Street on Aug. 10, 2003. They knocked him to the ground, beat him, and robbed him. As Rucker was on the ground, Weaver shot him twice in the head, killing him.

During the course of their investigation, Boston Police recovered a distinctive Detroit Tigers baseball cap that a witness had observed a young man with a gun drop as he fled down Humphrey Street.  Weaver had been wearing the same cap during an arrest in the weeks before the murder, and he made statements to police during a post-Miranda interview acknowledging that the hat belonged to him.  DNA lifted from the cap was additionally matched to Weaver, the evidence showed.

Weaver later admitted to Boston Police that he killed Rucker.

Assistant District Attorney John Pappas, Conley’s Chief Trial Counsel, prosecuted the case at trial.  Assistant District Attorney Jack Zanini, chief of the DA’s Appellate Unit, argued the case on appeal.  Michael Glennon was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Weaver was represented by Ruth Greenberg.

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