Jury convicts man with long record for breaking into a Jamaica Plain home and strangling and sexually attacking one of its occupants

A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted Washington Pearson, 56, of Lynn, with a criminal record that dates to 1987, on charges he broke into a home on the Arborway in 2022, strangled one of the women living there into unconsciousness, sexually attacked her, strangled her again and then made off with her phone and jewelry, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Judge Rosemary Connolly will sentence Pearson on Feb. 6 for his convictions for armed assault in a dwelling, armed robbery, assault with intent to rape, indecent assault and battery, two counts of strangulation, larceny from a building and armed breaking and entering during the daytime - putting a person in fear.

According to the DA's office:

On October 24, 2022 Pearson used a screwdriver to break into an apartment on the Arborway in Jamaica Plain, where two women lived. One of the women was home at the time of the break-in and came upon Pearson in her living room. Pearson was armed with a screwdriver. Pearson strangled her to unconsciousness. When she regained consciousness she found that her pants and underwear were removed. Pearson strangled her a second time and left her apartment after stealing her phone and jewelry, as well as items from her roommate’s bedrooms. Pearson was captured by U.S. Marshals in Virginia in November 2022 after an arrest warrant was issued for the Boston assault.

Before today's convictions, Pearson already had 197 entries in his criminal record, according to the DA's office, which adds Pearson was was living in a residential reentry program in the Fenway at the time of the attack, three months after having been released from prison following convictions for a series of home burglaries in Brookline and Cambridge in 2012 and 2013.

He appealed the convictions, because some of the evidence came from a search of his then Lynn home by police officers who had applied for a warrant but had not yet gotten it when they showed up. The Supreme Judicial Court overturned his Cambridge B&E conviction - but upheld his conviction in that case for witness intimidation, for threats he made against his wife, who was initially charged with him but then agreed to testify against him.