BOSTON, Jan. 25, 2013—A man who participated in the robbery and home invasion that preceded the murders of four people but did not play a part in the killings themselves was sentenced to a term of almost 20 years in prison today, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

KIMANI WASHINGTON (D.O.B. 10/17/75) pleaded guilty to a six-count indictment charging him with home invasion, armed robbery, armed carjacking, unlawful possession of a firearm, trafficking in a Class B substance, and possession of a Class D substance. At the request of Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Christine McEvoy sentenced Washington to a term of 16 to 18 years in state prison.

“This is a sentence appropriate to the facts, the evidence, and the charges,” Conley said. “We know full well the horror of what transpired in Mattapan that night, and we recognize this defendant’s role in the robbery that preceded it. We also recognize the statement he gave without an attorney early in the investigation, and the fact that it was later corroborated by multiple, independent sources. And most of all we recognize the terrible, terrible losses that the victims and their families will always live with. Today’s sentencing is the final chapter for the court proceedings, but we know the story never ends for the loved ones left behind.”

Washington admitted to taking part in a robbery and home invasion at 23 Sutton St. in Mattapan in the early morning of Sept. 28, 2010, after which DWAYNE MOORE (D.O.B. 6/25/77) and another man executed Eyanna Flonory; her 2-year-old son, Amanihotep Smith; Lavaughan Washum-Garrsion; and Simba Martin near the intersection of Woolson and Wildwood streets. A fourth victim, then 32, was shot in the back of the head, surviving his injuries but remaining paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Moore is currently serving multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole after his conviction at trial late last month. Washington testified at that trial and an earlier proceeding that ended with jurors unable to agree on Moore’s guilt.

The evidence developed during an exhaustive investigation into the slayings established that Moore plotted the robbery at Sutton Street, where he once lived with Martin and was aware of drugs and cash inside. Moore approached Washington with the plan and Washington readily threw in with him.

After Moore made repeated calls to Martin in a bid to draw him outside, Martin left the house to meet with another man – the surviving victim – to conduct a marijuana transaction. At that point, Washington approached the Ford Edge in which the surviving victim had arrived, and ordered both occupants out at gunpoint. After ordering Martin and the second man to strip, he and Moore marched them into the residence at gunpoint.

Inside, Washington helped rob the home of drugs, a safe, and a television. After loading some of the proceeds into the surviving victim’s rented sport-utility vehicle, Washington left the scene. He was later questioned by Boston Police after being spotted near the victim’s SUV – which the victim had misidentified as a Ford Explorer and which was rented to an Easton woman – and released. After further investigation and the execution of a search warrant at his mother’s Fowler Street home, Washington was tracked to New Hampshire and placed under arrest. He gave a statement without an attorney that was later corroborated by the surviving victim, a friend of Moore, cell phone and tower records, and other evidence.

In the more than two years since the murders on Woolson Street, Zabin said, “not a single shred of evidence, admissible or inadmissible” has contradicted Washington’s assertion that he took part in the murders themselves or any agreement, plan, or conspiracy to shoot or kill the robbery victims.

Zabin also noted that the recommended sentence was not contingent on any specific testimony by Washington or any outcome of any trial – Washington’s obligation under the cooperation agreement was to make himself available to testify and do so truthfully.

Kara Hayes and Michael Schultz were the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocates. Washington was represented by attorney John Salsberg.

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