A Boston Superior Court jury Feb. 28 found 26-year-old Antwan Wathey guilty of second-degree murder in the hit-and-run death of James A. Taylor.
“This was not an accident,” Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a press release following the verdict. “This wasn’t negligent or reckless conduct. This was an intentional act using a motor vehicle as a weapon. It’s an appropriate verdict and I hope it Mr. Taylor’s family takes some satisfaction knowing the jury recognized the magnitude of this crime.”
Prosecutors said Taylor and a friend were walking on Talbot Avenue in Dorchester when they came across Wathey and an associate. Wathey and Taylor were allegedly involved in an ongoing dispute over Wathey’s treatment of his girlfriend, who was also Taylor’s cousin.
Wathey and Taylor briefly fought, prosecutors said, immediately after which Taylor brandished a knife while walking away.
Shortly thereafter, Wathey got in his 2000 Mazda Millennia and accelerated towards Taylor while he was crossing Talbot Avenue, the prosecution alleged. Taylor died later at Boston Medical Center.
Officer Tom Barrett of the Boston Police Fatal Accident Reconstruction Team said during testimony for the prosecution that there were no skid marks at the crash scene even though Wathey’s car would have left marks if he had been heavily breaking.
The evidence on Wathey’s car, Barrett said, showed that Taylor rolled over the top of the vehicle, and landed over 68 feet away from where he was initially struck.
Wathey fled Boston after the alleged crime and was arrested in Tarzana, Calif. in July 2012, the district attorney’s office said.
Wathey and his uncle, Tommy Brown, allegedly traveled to Providence then to New York following the incident, Assistant District Attorney Masai King said. Wathey then allegedly traveled to California by way of Atlanta.
King said the dates on which Wathey traveled to Providence and New York correspond to dates his uncle R&B singer Bobby Brown was performing in those cities. King did not say if Wathey is believed to have been in contact with Bobby Brown at this time.
