Sole survivor in Mattapan massacre testifies in retrial of murder case

(Boston, MA) Marcus Hurd takes the witness stand in the retrial of Dwayne Moore at Suffolk Superior Court. Judge Jeffrey Locke in background. Monday, December 03, 2012. (Ted Fitzgerald/The Boston Herald-Pool)
Marcus Hurd testfied today in the retrial of Dwayne Moore at Suffolk Superior Court.Credit: Ted Fitzgerald/The Boston Herald/Pool

Marcus Hurd, the sole survivor of the 2010 attack in Mattapan that killed four people, including a two-year-old child, gave a detailed account today of the slayings and sparred with a defense attorney during a heated cross-examination. But he did not testify that he recognized defendant Dwayne Moore as the shooter responsible for the massacre.

Hurd was the last witness called by District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office in Suffolk Superior Court, where Moore is on trial for the second time for four counts of first-degree murder in the Sept. 28, 2010 mass killings on Woolson Street.

The defense then called several witnesses whose testimony took a total of less than 30 minutes. Closing arguments are expected to begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

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Moore, 35, is charged with home invasion and the killings of Simba Martin, 21; Martin’s girlfriend, Eyanna Flonory; her 2-year-old son, Amanihotep Smith; and Levaughn Washum-Garrison, Martin’s friend who slept on a couch at Martin’s Sutton Street house that night. Moore has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Hurd was also shot in the back of the head in the incident, leaving him paralyzed. He testified today while sitting in a wheelchair.

During the first trial, Hurd did not identify Moore. But after the jury deadlocked and a new trial was ordered, Hurd dropped a potential bombshell, telling police his memory had improved and he recognized Moore as the man who had shot him.

Neither Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin nor defense attorney John Amabile asked Hurd about his improved memory today, even though the issue was the subject of heated hearings before Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke earlier this year.

The trial, which has lasted five weeks, has also included testimony from Boston police officers, Boston EMS personnel, neighbors, and relatives of those who were killed. Another key prosecution witness was Kimani Washington, who said he was part of the robbery plot that led up to the slayings but left before the shooting began.

On the stand today, Hurd described how a routine visit to his friend, Martin, to buy marijuana suddenly went wrong. Hurd testified he was sitting in a rented Ford with Martin when a man armed with a gun walked past, turned around, and ordered them both out of the vehicle.

Two other gunmen then ordered Hurd and Martin to strip off their clothes and then return to Martin’s home on Sutton Street.

Hurd described two of the gunmen, telling jurors that “one was short, stocky, the other was a tall, slim young man, about 6-foot-2 or 6-foot-3.” Prosecutors allege the taller man was Moore.

After the robbery, the gunmen ordered Hurd and the others to exit the house and walk to neighboring Woolson Street, Hurd testified.

Hurd said he was ordered to lie on the ground and was shot in the back of the head by the tall gunman and was later able to call to Boston police officers for help, but has not walked since that day.

Hurd jousted with Amabile, who frequently tried to highlight what the defense contends are inconsistencies in Hurd’s account of the crime. For example, Hurd had testified in the first trial that the two gunmen were “probably” wearing ski masks. Today he testified that one wore a ski mask and the other wore a hooded sweatshirt.

“Do you expect me to remember everything from two years ago? Do you remember what you did two years ago?” Hurd fired back at Amabile. “You’re trying to sabotage my character now because I’m coming true now, is that what you’re trying to do.’’