BOSTON, March 16, 2015— The two people convicted of taking part in the fatal beating and stabbing of 39-year-old Cherby LaJoie were today sentenced to prison, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

TARAYIAH “TIP” HUNT (D.O.B. 1/1/92) of Dorchester was convicted last month by a Suffolk Superior Court jury of second-degree murder in LaJoie’s Oct. 6, 2012, homicide.  The same jury convicted ERNEST WATKINS IV (D.O.B. 1/14/98) of Dorchester of involuntary manslaughter for his role in LaJoie’s killing. 

Both had been indicted for first-degree murder; jurors deliberated for four days before returning convictions on the lesser charges.

Today, Assistant District Attorney Craig Iannini asked Judge Kenneth Fishman to sentence Hunt to the mandatory term for second-degree murder of life in prison with the possibility of parole, recommending that parole eligibility begin after 25 years of incarceration.  Fishman sentenced Hunt to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

Iannini also recommended that Watkins serve a term of 12 to 15 years in state prison; Watkins’ defense attorney requested a sentence of 29 months – approximately the same period of time Watkins has been held since his arrest days after LaJoie’s death.  Fishman imposed a sentence of four to five years in state prison, the majority of which will be served in the custody of the Department of Youth Services due to Watkins’ age – he was 14 years old at the time of the homicide.

During the course of a trial, Iannini and Assistant District Attorney Mark Hallal introduced evidence and testimony to prove that the two defendants were among a group of four people who set upon LaJoie as he walked on Charles Street in Dorchester, beating and stabbing him.  The group fled after witnesses driving by stopped their vehicle with the intent of helping the victim.

Hallal presented surveillance images depicting the group fleeing into the Fields Corner MBTA station, where Watkins walked out of the view of a camera and then returned.  In the area where he was not captured on video, Boston Police homicide detectives located a knife with the blade’s tip missing; the tip of that blade was recovered from LaJoie’s body during the course of an autopsy, the evidence proved.

Near LaJoie’s body, police discovered a trail of blood that DNA testing would later match to Hunt, who suffered a hand injury during the assault on LaJoie.  Surveillance images showed Hunt walking along the same path marked by the blood trail through the train station and onto Faulkner Street.

Also recovered at the scene was a key on a shoe lace that, the evidence showed, opened the front door to Watkin’s Wentworth Street home.  DNA from both Watkins and LaJoie was found on the shoelace, the evidence showed.

Jennifer Sears was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  Watkins is represented by attorney Janice Bassil and Hunt by Timothy Bradl.

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