TWO MURDER TRIALS TO BEGIN THIS WEEK

A man and woman face trial for the 2007 murders of two men while another man faces a second set of proceedings for the 2002 murder of a 10-year-old girl as the unrelated Roxbury cases make their ways to Suffolk Superior Court this week.

ALEXANDER BOLLING (D.O.B. 6/17/83) of Mattapan and TONEIKA BRITT (D.O.B. 9/25/76) of Taunton are each charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed assault with intent to murder for the shooting deaths of Jesse Calhoun and Robert Turner and the non-fatal shooting of a surviving victim on Aug. 2, 2007. Jury selection for their joint trial is expected to begin tomorrow before Judge Frank Gaziano in courtroom 906.

Prosecutors allege that Britt and Calhoun were involved in an escalating dispute over money that culminated when she and Bolling encountered Calhoun, Turner, and the third victim on Williams Street.

Assistant District Attorneys Julie Higgins and David Fredette will try the case with defense lawyers John Amabile for Britt and John Palmer for Bolling.

Jury selection is expected to begin Thursday in the re-trial of JOSEPH COUSIN (D.O.B. 8/9/84) of Dorchester for the June 29, 2002, shooting death of 10-year-old Trina Persad in Jermaine Goffigan Park, named for another child slain by an errant bullet fired in a gang-related shooting.

Authorities say Cousin was gunning for members of a rival gang when he fired the shotgun that ended the little girl’s life. Cousin’s first trial ended when deliberating jurors were dismissed and there were not enough alternates to replace them.

First Assistant District Attorney Josh Wall will try the case with attorney William White before Judge Nancy Staffier Holtz in courtroom 907. Empanelment is scheduled to begin Thursday.

Currently ongoing in Suffolk Superior Court is the trial of ANTWAN CARTER (D.O.B. 10/13/88) and DANIEL PINCKNEY, Jr. (D.O.B. 7/4/88), both of Boston’s South End, for the murder of 18-year-old Cedirick Steele near the intersections of Centre and Highland streets on the afternoon of March 14, 2007. Assistant District Attorney Paul Treseler is trying that case with attorneys James Greenberg and Barry Wilson before Judge Linda Giles in courtroom 817.