A Roxbury man is on trial after he allegedly “dragged” a teen by his automobile, resulting in the sufferer’s demise, after an iPhone sale gone dangerous in 2018.
“Nov. 16, 2018, was an unthinkable day for Kemoni Miller,” mentioned Suffolk ADA Alexandra Rahimi. “The unimaginable happened when the defendant, Kenneth Ford, dragged him down Gallivan Boulevard at a high rate of speed. He hung from the outside of the vehicle, fell from that car, and he died. In the simplest terms, this is a robbery gone wrong.”
Ford, 30, of Roxbury, was charged with second-degree homicide in relation to the demise of Kemoni Miller, 18, in 2018 and returned to Suffolk Superior Courtroom on Thursday for the beginning of his trial almost seven years later.
In opening statements, Rahimi alleged “the defendant knew Miller was outside of the vehicle” and drove off at a excessive fee of velocity — allegedly about 45 mph in a 30 mph velocity zone — for just below half a mile with that information.
Miller fell from the automobile across the intersection Gallivan Boulevard and Washington Avenue in Dorchester and sustained a number of cranium fractures, prosecutors mentioned. He died 4 days later from blunt drive trauma accidents.
Protection legal professional Joseph Krowski known as the prosecutor’s assertion a “half-baked, cherry-picked presentation of what took place on that day,” criticizing the usage of a key “bought-and-paid-for witness” concerned within the incident, Dejon Barnes.
Prosecutors initially sought homicide prices in opposition to each Ford and Barnes, who was allegedly within the passenger seat, however the witness cooperated with the DA’s workplace in Ford’s case and pleaded responsible to unarmed theft in 2019.
Barnes’s sentencing has been postponed till after Ford’s trial.
“What did Dejon Barnes get for setting up this deal, for bringing the counterfeit money, for prying the fingers off for Kemoni Miller?” Krowski mentioned to the jury Thursday. “He got a deal. He got time served. He is now a cooperating witness. It is true that you decide credibility, but in this regard, he is on different footing than other witnesses.”
Prosecutors allege Miller was seeking to promote an iPhone and received involved with Barnes by means of his then-girlfriend to rearrange a location for the sale.
Barnes requested Ford for a journey to 322 Gallivan Blvd., the ADA mentioned. On the best way, Rahimi mentioned, the 2 males “hatched a plan” to pay Miller partially in counterfeit cash to extend the resale revenue.
Krowski claimed that Miller’s girlfriend ran a “cell phone scam” with Barnes, and “all (Ford) was doing was giving a ride.”
On the sale location, Miller approached the automobile, and Barnes partially rolled down the passenger-side window.
There have been “four or five people in the area of the car,” Krowski claimed, together with one armed with a knife that witnesses allegedly likened to a sword or machete.
Barnes and Miller begin going forwards and backwards over “the phone, the condition, the price that will be paid,” Rahimi mentioned. It’s then that Ford allegedly begins driving.
“Everything was fine until it wasn’t,” Rahimi mentioned. “The car took off at a high rate of speed, drove just shy of half of a mile. Kemoni hanging from the outside of the car on the window. The defendant blew through a red light. He was weaving in and out of traffic.”
Krowski described his consumer as “nervous” and mentioned it was solely as Miller “breaches into the car” that Ford pulls off to “get away from a potential problem.”
“What you didn’t hear in their opening statement, and you’re going to hear from their bought-and-paid-for witness, Dejon Barnes, is when Mr. Ford starts to pull away, Kemoni Miller doesn’t let the car pull off,” mentioned Krowski. “He has a very easy choice. He jumps onto the car and is holding on to the window.”
Considered one of Miller’s mates on the scene, Krowski alleged, would later say, “Why didn’t he just let go? He could have let go.”
A prosecution witness mentioned he noticed a physique hanging from a automobile because it ran a pink gentle, although he didn’t recollect particular particulars about by which lane or how briskly the automobile was touring.
Barnes allegedly “shoves” his counterfeit cash beneath Miller’s fingers, the protection alleged, “which is what caused him to fall off, hit his head and die.” The 2 males drove off, Krowski continued, as “neither one of them knew he was hurt, just thought he fell off the car.”
The prosecution claimed Barnes was a “participant, no doubt,” however within the theft, not the homicide.
“Your task as jurors in this case is actually going to be far more simple at the end of the day,” mentioned Rahimi. “One, who was operating the car on Nov. 16, 2018? And two, did their actions rise to the level of second degree murder?”
The trial will proceed at 9 a.m. Friday in Suffolk Superior Courtroom.
