Dorchester, Mattapan murder suspects say they didn't do it; held without bail

UPDATE: Charge in Williams case formally withdrawn.

Through his attorney, Kevin Williams says he had no reason to murder Jose Luis Phinn Williams in a Codman Square gas station Friday night: He'd just gotten paid at his job at a Taunton Jiffy Lube and he was getting ready to help his family move from Dorchester to the South Shore the next morning.

At his arraignment in Dorchester Municipal Court this morning, Kevin Williams stood hidden behind a thick court door that prevented Jose Williams's relatives, community members and a number of BPD officers and detectives from seeing him. He listened as his attorney, Aviva Jeruchim, told Judge Jonathan Tynes that location data from Williams's cell phone would exonerate her client, a 21-year-old Quincy high-school graduate whom she said had no criminal record.

She added she is also confident her client will not show up in video from any of the numerous surveillance cameras around the courthouse and the gas station just across a side street.

Jeruchim asked for bail of $20,000, saying his family was also in court and would guarantee his appearances.

Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Jennifer Hickman, however, said that not only did a witness place Kevin Williams at the murder scene inside the Fabian gas station - where he allegedly shot the 67-year-old father of two in the chest - but he then identified Williams not long after at Dorchester Avenue and Centre Street, where police had stopped him based on a radio description from the shooting scene.

Tynes ordered Kevin Williams held without bail due to the seriousness of the charge.

In a separate hearing, Tynes also ordered Kai Harris, 26, of Brockton, held without bail for the murder of Terrell White, 36, on Itasca Street in Mattapan around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.

in a courtroom packed with relatives of both the suspect and the victim - separated on either side by a large contingent of court officers - Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Julie Higgins said Harris fatally shot White, then fled in a car.

Boston Police officers on routine patrol nearby heard the gunshots and rushed to the scene, she said. As one gave medical aid to the dying White, the other chased the car. Not long after, officers stopped the red Honda and arrested Harris.

Harris's attorney, Eduardo Masferrer, did not dispute that his client was at the scene, but said he was innocent of the murder - the killer, he said, was in the back seat, while Harris was the driver.

Higgins said Harris has a record that includes convictions for armed robbery and assault and battery in Boston Municipal Court. He also has a conviction for assault and battery with a gun in Dorchester Municipal Court, was released on probation, but then defaulted on his probation, she said.

Jose Williams and White were two of the five people shot to death between Friday and Sunday. Suspects have not been arrested for the other three murders.

Innocent, etc.