The murder trial for the three men accused of killing Ryan ‘Duce’ Morrissey and shooting James Lawton in 2014 continues this week with testimony from experts, police and neighborhood witnesses.
The case is being tried by Judge Janet Sanders in Boston’s Suffolk Superior Court, and with opening statement given last week, the heart of the trial has now commenced.
The trial is expected to continue through this week and, perhaps, next week as well. There are many witnesses expected to give testimony over several days.
On Friday, two neighbors from the Salem Street area took the stand to testify about what they saw on the night of the shooting – as they recounted they heard the gunshots, saw the alleged getaway vehicle, and observed two people run and get inside.
The man – who the newspaper has chosen not to identify – told the court that he and his wife were watching ‘Sons of Anarchy’ when they heard what sounded like gunshots.
After pausing the show, in the silence they heard more shots.
Going to the window, they observed the car appear to hit a blue VW on the street. At first, he said they were more concerned that a hit-and-run might take place rather than a shooting situation.
That’s why they attempted to get a license plate at first, and didn’t call 9-1-1 until a bit later.
“The thought about 9-1-1 was really me thinking that we were trying to prevent a hit-and-run on our street,” he told the court. “It took me a minute to put together that something bigger might have happened when we saw the police cars. That’s when I started thinking something isn’t right, something more is going on. We started to see the police lights. That’s when I re-thought whether or not this car we saw might be more important than we thought.”
He also testified that after the shots, they saw two men in tightly-drawn hoodies come up the street rapidly and get in the car, fleeing off to another street out of sight.
The case could go to jury some time late next week.