More than 30 years after a high school basketball star with a “heart like a gladiator” was killed by four people around his age, the men responsible have been given an unlikely second chance.
At about 4 a.m. on March 28, 1993, Kevin Christopher, 23, and 21-year-old Lloyd Industrious, cousins, were killed after leaving a party in Mattapan.
Eyewitnesses told officials a group involving 20-year-old Marcus Edwards, 20-year-old Michael Payne, 18-year-old Lonnie Watkins, and a 15- year-old fired several shots into a vehicle that the two men had been sitting in in Dorchester. One of the people took a gold necklace from Christopher, and ran from the scene.
Christopher had 11 gunshot wounds and Industrious had seven gunshot wounds. They both died due to their injuries.
A police ballistics expert testified that at least four different guns had been used to shoot Christopher and Industrious, according to court documents.
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Industrious was working at a distribution center in Cambridge for a large department store when he was killed, The Boston Globe reported. But he was known for thriving on the basketball court.
He had been captain, most valuable player and leading scorer during his four years at Madison Park High School. His coach, Dennis Wilson, told the Globe he had also been an honor student and was “a perfect gentlemen.”
He led the team to its 1989 City Championship, scoring 22 points.
“We couldn’t have won without him. He was my go-to guy,” Wilson said. “He had a heart like a gladiator and never hesitated to give the team his all.”
He eventually went to Mercer University to play basketball and had been thinking about going to Northeastern University, the Globe reported.
Christopher was taking time off from attending Wentworth Institute of Technology and working as a security guard when he was shot and killed.
Edwards and Payne were tried together, while Watkins faced his own trial. The 15-year-old was tried as a juvenile.
On June 21, 1994, following a jury trial in Suffolk Superior Court, Edwards and Payne were found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
An eyewitness had selected Payne’s photo out of 14 other photographs. However, Payne stated that he attended the nearby party but he was not involved in the murders. He claimed that he learned about the murders for the first time on the news.
Their lawyers said the men had been misidentified by people drinking at the party, according to the Globe in 1994.
On June 28, 1994, Lonnie Watkins was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and was sentenced to two concurrent life terms.
After the trial, Mavis Evans said the men who killed her brother should be put to death. Industrious’ mother agreed.
“Words can never describe the hurt, the agony and pain that this tragedy has caused our family,” Evans said.
More than 30 years later, the men involved in the shooting are getting a second chance.
Despite being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the men became eligible for parole in January 2024 after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Commonwealth v. Mattis that sentencing people ages 18 through 20 at the time of their offense to life without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional and amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Massachusetts was the first state in the country to transform the law, experts said.
“Essentially, the brains of what we are calling ‘late adolescents’ or ‘emerging adults’ function very much like juveniles,” Northampton attorney Paul Rudof, one of the lawyers who successfully challenged life sentences for individuals aged 18 to 20, told The Republican.
Overall, there were 210 cases that fell into the Mattis decision across Massachusetts.
Payne went in front of the parole board for the first time on Feb. 19. But was denied parole on June 30, with the Massachusetts Parole Board stating there were “concerns” following his statements at the hearing.
Payne told the parole board that the programming offered through the state would not be beneficial for him “and self-improvement is not a need area,” the parole board wrote in its decision.
There will be another review in 2 years.
Edwards, now 52, faced the parole board next.
He’s been in prison for 32 years but began to engage in rehabilitation and self-development in the early stages of his incarceration, the parole board noted.
During his May 27 hearing, the board and Edwards talked about how he had completed numerous rehabilitative programs including Vocational Training, Restorative Justice, Violence Reduction and Criminal Thinking.
On its Oct. 23 decision, the parole board said Edwards “appears to have benefitted” from the programs.
He is considered a low risk for future violations and a low risk for recidivism.
He was granted parole after six months in a lower security facility.
Watkins also went in front of the parole board this year. His appearance was on Aug. 14.
The parole board has not made a decision about Watkins. It is common for these decisions to take months.
The court’s Mattis decision has been devastating for the families of those killed as they are forced to relive the trauma, often going in front of the parole board and the incarcerated individual to make their own case.
Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Montez Haywood spoke in opposition to Edwards’ parole. Family members also spoke on behalf of both victims.
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