Two Get Life in 17-Year-Old’s Murder near School
BOSTON, June 29, 2018—The gunman and driver who orchestrated a multiple shooting that claimed the life of 17-year-old Raekwon Brown and injured two other teens outside a Dorchester high school were sentenced to life in prison today, and a third participant was sentenced to up to 20 years for his role, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
Raekwon Brown, 17, was shot and killed outside his school in 2016. Today, his killers were sentenced for his murder.
JONATHAN AGUASVIVAS, 25, who drove the van in which the assailants arrived and fled, was found guilty of second-degree murder for his role in the homicide. Locke sentenced him to life in prison with parole eligibility after 20 years, with six concurrent terms of 18 to 20 years for his role in the non-fatal Washington Street shootings. Aguasvivas still faces charges connected to firearms recovered from his home during the homicide investigation; he will return to court on those charges on July 27.
BENZY BAIN, 26, was acquitted of murder but convicted of aiding and abetting his co-defendants in the non-fatal shootings. He was sentenced to six concurrent terms of 15 to 20 years followed by five years of probation upon his release.
Also at sentencing today, Locke found that Aguasvivas and Bain had violated the terms of their probation on earlier, unrelated cases. Aguasvivas pleaded guilty in 2013 to possessing a firearm, receiving a three-year prison sentence and two-year probationary term. Bain pleaded guilty in 2013 to possessing a firearm as a second offense, receiving three and a half years in prison followed by two years of probation. Locke found that their participation in the shootings violated those probationary terms and sentenced both to two years in a house of correction, deeming those sentences served while awaiting trial on the murders.
Prior to imposing the sentences, Locke heard from Brown’s loved ones. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Flanagan read a statement from the teen’s family thanking prosecutors, police detectives, the court, and the jury.
“We miss him so much,” the statement said, listing activities such as fishing, cooking, basketball, and shopping that Brown pursued as an innocent teen cut down just as his life was beginning.
“His smile is embedded in my mind,” Brown’s older brother told the court. “May my brother rest in peace.”
During about two weeks of trial, Suffolk prosecutors introduced evidence and testimony proving that the defendants acted in concert on June 8, 2016, when they saw a rival in the crowd near the Burke School at about 1:15 pm. The defendants – in a van whose path was documented by surveillance cameras, cell site location information, and Bain’s court-ordered GPS device – reversed course and stopped to take up a position nearby as Waiters approached the scene on foot and opened fire, killing Brown and injuring two other teens, then 16 and 17.
Based on evidence gathered in the hours and days that followed, Boston Police homicide detectives arrested Aguasvivas and Bain on June 22, 2016, and Waiters about a month later. All three were held without bail pending trial; Aguasvivas has since been indicted for first-degree murder in the Feb. 4, 2016, homicide of 22-year-old Marquis Waithe on Brookledge Street in Roxbury.
Erin O’Connor and Anite Cetoute were the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocates. The defendants were represented by Brian Kelley, James Greenberg, and Robert Sheketoff.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
