Court sees no reason to undo man's conviction for 2010 Mattapan Massacre

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld Dwayne Moore's conviction for murdering four people - including a toddler - and permanently paralyzing a fifth person in what became known as the Mattapan Massacre on Woolson Street in Mattapan early on Sept 28, 2010.

The state's highest court ruled that Moore got a fair trial, that his trial lawyer was not incompetent and that while the lead prosecutor made a couple of improper statements during his closing argument - one trying a prohibited statement to get jurors to put themselves in the shoes of the dead people, the other referring to Moore's lawyer in a possibly less than flattering way - they did not affect the deliberations. And new evidence uncovered after the trial that Moore's appeals attorney said could be used to prove a co-defendant tried to frame Moore was not as persuasive as the attorney thinks, the court concluded.

That co-defendant, Kimani Washington, was sentenced to 16 to 18 years in prison in 2013 for his role in the armed robbery that led to the murders of Eyanna Louise Flonory, 21, of Dorchester, her son, Amanihotep Smith, 2, Simba Martin, 21, of Dorchester, and Lavaughhan Washum-Garrison, 22, of Roslindale. The fifth shooting victim, Marcus Hurd, was permanently paralyzed.

A third suspect in the case, Kimani Washington's cousin, Edward, was acquitted in 2012.