Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
Charles F. Bogues, a Dorchester man, who pled guilty to the 1993 murder of a 15-year-old teenager, is asking a Massachusetts appeals court to set aside his conviction. Bogues’s father, Boston police Officer Charles T. Bogues, says his son would like another chance to go to trial.
Bogues, 38, says he only pled guilty because prosecutors and his criminal defense attorney had convinced him that the stray bullet that struck the boy came from Bogues’s gun. Bogues has so far served 11 years in prison for the murder of Louis D. Brown during a Dorchester shoot-out. Brown had been going to a Teens Against Gang Violence Christmas party when he was killed by a bullet in the head.
Brown pled guilty to second-degree murder. He is eligible for parole in 15 years. As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors dropped an indictment for cocaine trafficking and weapons possession that came with a minimum mandatory 15 years in prison.
After pleading guilty, Bogues found out that witnesses had identified another person as the shooter. Ballistic evidence also revealed that someone else had been firing a .45-caliber gun at the time of the shooting.
Bogues’s current criminal defense team says that his old lawyer never examined this evidence before convincing the Dorchester man to make the plea agreement. Bogues has already lost one appeal. The three-judge appeals court panel is not sure about whether it can examine Bogues’s appeal because he had waived his right to look at all of the evidence when he agreed to a plea agreement instead of going to trial.
Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Paul B. Linn says that Bogues is guilty and that only he could have fired the deadly shot. Linn says that Bogues’s involvement in the shootout makes him responsible for Brown’s slaying even if there is was a question about who fired the gun with the fatal bullet.
Bogues says that he fired his gun because he and his friends had been shot at on Tonawanda Street by an unknown shooter. He says that he doesn’t think that his return fire could have killed Brown because the teenager was on Geneva Avenue. Prosecutors say that the bullet ricocheted.
Tina Chery, Brown’s mother, says she is now not sure if Bogues is guilty and wonders why others involved in the shooting weren’t arrested.
Man says he was tricked into plea, Boston Globe, March 19, 2008
Inmate wants guilty plea tossed in ’93 homicide, Boston.com, October 29, 2007
Related Web Resources:
Plea Agreements, Justia
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