Contact: Beth Stone- (508) 584-8120
BROCKTON – A Boston man has been found guilty of an involuntary manslaughter charge in the fatal shooting of a Brockton man, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz has announced.
After a 10-day trial, a jury deliberated eight hours before finding Donta Hood (DOB: 06/14/90) guilty of a charge of Involuntary Manslaughter, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm and Unlawful Possession of a Loaded Firearm. Hood was found not guilty of Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm within 500 feet of a Building and Armed Robbery charges. Hood was indicted and the Commonwealth sought a Murder charge against Hood.
On May 14, 2013 at approximately 4:09 p.m., Brockton Police received a 911 call reporting multiple gunshots and a male shot and lying in the driveway at 227 Belmont Street in Brockton. Police arrive on scene and found 49-year-old Charles “Chuck” Evans lying in the driveway. Mr. Evans had sustained gunshot wounds to the chest and was transported to a Brockton Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Witnesses at the scene identified the shooter as Hood and the murder weapon, a Smith and Wesson pistol, was found wrapped in a black sweatshirt that investigators found to belong to Hood. Three days after the shooting, members of the State Police Fugitive Unit, Boston Police, and Brockton Police located the defendant in a Boston apartment and he was placed under arrest.
Hood, who was convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, subsequent offense, in August, 2009, had his five-year State Prison sentence on that conviction vacated in the wake of actions by State Drug Lab chemist Annie Dookhan. Dookhan tested the drug samples used to convict Hood in 2009 and testified falsely at Hood’s drug trial. By the time Dookhan’s conduct came to light, the cocaine relating to Hood’s drug conviction had been destroyed as procedure. There was no physical evidence to re-test and the Commonwealth filed a nolle prosequi ending the prosecution of Hood’s drug case, due to lack of evidence on November 14, 2012.
“We respect the jury’s hard work on this case and the conclusion that they came to,” DA Cruz said. Brockton Superior Court Judge Cornelius Moriarty set the sentencing of Hood for July 11. A co-defendant in the shooting, William Allen-Robinson (DOB: 03/06/92), is scheduled for trial July 6 in Brockton Superior Court.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Jessica Elumba and Mary Nguyen and was investigated by State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office and Brockton Police.
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