BOSTON, March 3, 2014— The state’s highest court last week affirmed the conviction of the man who killed 31-year-old Heureur Previlon during an armed robbery in Brighton, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

The Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday issued the decision upholding the verdicts against CLEVELAND “SLEAZY” MARTIN (D.O.B. 7/4/86) for armed robbery and first-degree murder under the theory of felony murder – a homicide committed during the commission of a felony.

Heureur Previlon, a taxi driver training to become a minister, was murdered during a robbery in 2005. His killer’s conviction was affirmed by Massachusetts’ highest court recently.

Previlon, a musician training to become a minister, was driving a Brookline taxi in order to support his family when he was dispatched to the area of the Reservoir MBTA station shortly after 1:00 a.m. Previlon was sent to pick up Martin and JASHAWN ROBINSON (D.O.B. 4/17/84) after Martin made numerous calls to the cab company.  During Martin’s 2008 trial, prosecutors proved that the cab – like all of the taxis in the Bay State Taxi Company’s fleet – did not have a partition, and that Previlon was pulled into the rear of the vehicle and stabbed in the chest.

Martin and Robinson, who was acquitted in a separate trial after a judge severed their proceedings over prosecutors’ objections, then made their way to the Jette Court apartment of Martin’s girlfriend.  Martin’s girlfriend went to retrieve items left behind inside the cab, which had come to a rest against a lamp post in the parking lot of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital with the victim unresponsive inside.  She returned to the apartment with the recovered items and leaving a trail of blood up to the apartment.

The defendants later fled to Virginia, where they were arrested by Boston Police and US Marshals.

In his appeal, Martin claimed that statements he made to Boston homicide detectives on three separate occasions should not have been introduced at trial.  In the decision authored by Justice Barbara A. Lenk, the court found no merit to his claims and ruled that the trial judge made no error in allowing into evidence statements made to police outside Jette Court and during an interview with police after he was apprehended in Virginia.  A third statement made in lockup at Brighton District Court was found to present a harmless error and “would have had but little effect” on the jury’s decision in light of the substantial evidence presented.

The court also ruled that the cell phone used to repeatedly call the cab company was properly introduced as evidence after Martin willfully discarded the phone when he realized police wanted to speak with him.

Martin also argued that there was insufficient evidence to prove that anything of value had been stolen from the victim in order to support the conviction for armed robbery, which was the predicate felony to prove first-degree murder under the theory of felony murder.

The justices found no merit to Martin’s claim, as prosecutors presented numerous witnesses to prove that Previlon would have had in his possession the night he was killed a black bag containing his hackney license, cash in small denominations used to make change for passengers, and a street guide.  The bag and its contents were not recovered after the murder.  Eight fellow taxis drivers testified that they had seen the victim carrying such a bag, including one who had seen the victim with the bag on the night of the murder.  In addition, Brookline’s hackney officer testified that he had seen it inside Previlon’s cab each and every time it was inspected. The court ruled that the jurors could reasonably infer that the items had been stolen.

The case was argued on appeal by Assistant District Attorney Cailin Campbell of the DA’s Appellate Unit.  First Assistant District Attorney Patrick Haggan, then a line prosecutor in the DA’s Homicide Unit, prosecuted the case at trial.

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