Phillip Carrington | Homicide Watch Boston

Second trial of Phillip Carrington results in conviction

Gail Waterhouse — Thu, 12 May 2016 21:50:29 -0400

A jury convicted Phillip Carrington, the man who killed Celestine Walker in 2013, of second-degree murder on Tuesday. Carrington was first tried in November, but that trial resulted in a mistrial when jurors declared themselves hopelessly deadlocked after more than seven days of deliberations.

The jury's verdict and Carrington's sentencing comes approximately three years to the day of Walker's death. Carrington, 51, strangled Walker to death in her Jamaica Plain apartment on Heath Street. She was last seen alive on May 11, 2013, which was Mother's Day. Her body was found May 16, 2013.

Celestine Walker

Carrington and Walker had been in a relationship, and Carrington was physically abusive to Walker, prosecutors argued. Walker attempted to hide the abuse from her family.

Walker's family members testified in court that they confronted Carrington after learning of her death, and after initially denying his involvement, they testified that he told them her murder was an accident.

On Wednesday, a judge sentenced Carrington to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 15 years. Carrington was also sentenced to jail time for violating a restraining order Walker had taken out against him.

Walker's daughter addressed the court before Carrington's sentencing.

“We will forever have to live with the fact that such thoughtless, hateful behavior is what led to another human being losing their life before their time. From this day forth, our family has to battle with constant feelings of loss and loneliness,” she said.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reminded victims of domestic violence that they should call 911 in an emergency. A statewide domestic violence hotline, SafeLink, is also available at 877-785-2020.

SafeLink is answered by trained advocates 24 hours a day in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, as well as TTY at 877-521- 2601. It also has the capacity to provide multilingual translation in more than 140 languages.

Mistrial declared for Phillip Carrington, accused of killing Celestine Walker

Gail Waterhouse — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 20:32:25 -0500

After spending more than seven days deliberating, jurors in the Phillip Carrington murder trial announced Tuesday afternoon that they were "hopelessly deadlocked," according to the Suffolk District Attorney's office, and the judge presiding over the case declared a mistrial.

Carrington, 50, is accused of killing his girlfriend, 47-year-old Celestine Walker, in May of 2013. Click here to read more about the trial.

Prosecutors fully expect to re-try Carrington for Walker's murder, according to a spokesman for the Suffolk DA.

Lawyers in the case will next appear in Suffolk County Superior Court for trial assignment on Thursday, Dec. 10.

Jury deliberating after closing arguments in Carrington trial

Gail Waterhouse — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 21:03:44 -0500

By Mackenzie Nichols

Jurors were set to continue deliberating Tuesday morning in the murder trial of Phillip Carrington. During closing statements to the jury on Friday morning, both the prosecution and defense revisited witness testimonies to support their arguments either for or against Carrington’s innocence in the murder of 47-year-old Celestine Walker.

On the night of May 11, 2013, Carrington allegedly went home with Walker despite the restraining order she held against him, and that was the last time she was seen alive. At the time, Walker was involved in two physically abusive relationships, said Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Hickman during her closing statement on Friday, but the police maintained that Walker’s boyfriend Philip Carrington was the only viable suspect in Walker’s homicide.

“Walker went from one abusive relationship to another, and she brought Carrington into her home despite the restraining order,” Hickman said. “Carrington has motive.”

According to Hickman, whoever killed Walker left her on the floor covered in a white sheet and locked her inside the apartment with their own set of keys. The next day was Mother’s Day, and Walker’s daughter Ashley Lee allegedly tried calling her, but could not reach her.

Later on, Hickman said, Lee received a phone call informing her that her mother was dead, so she and two other siblings went to Carrington’s Columbus Avenue apartment to confront him about the rumor.

According to Lee’s testimony, Carrington said “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it was an accident.” The children allegedly became violent with Carrington, but they did not tell police about the incident. Walker's body was discovered a few days later, on May 16, when a neighbor reported an odor coming from her apartment and officials responded to the scene.

Carrington’s defense attorney Martin Murphy urged jurors to rethink some aspects of the witness testimonies during the trial. The woman who allegedly dropped Carrington and Walker off at Walker’s 34 Heath St. apartment on the night of the May 11, 2013 testified that she saw the couple walk into the building, but the door to the apartment is “physically impossible” to see from where the witness’s car was parked.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Murphy said. “You can’t always say the person on the stand is telling the truth.”

Murphy also revisited testimonies from George Santana and Ashley Lee to identify holes in the prosecution’s arguments. Santana, the maintenance supervisor for 34 Heath St., told the jury that the door to the apartment building was always locked when in fact there had been reported incidents of the building door being unlocked on multiple occasions.

As for Ashley Lee, Murphy said she and her other siblings harbored hostility toward Carrington which emerged throughout their testimonies and slanted their stories.

“They didn’t like Carrington and they imposed street justice in the courtroom where it has no place,” Murphy said.

Murphy also revisited jail tapes which were played during the trial. In the tapes, Walker tells Carrington that “someone was trying to choke her,” but wouldn’t tell Carrington who the person was. Carrington was in jail at the time, and the conversation took place a month before Walker’s death.

The defense argued that there is evidence missing from the trial. For instance, Carrington's attorneys said there is no confession, no physical evidence tying him to Walker’s homicide, no witnesses to Walker’s death, and no evidence of who came in and out of the apartment building the night of the murder. Fingerprints placing Carrington at the scene were found on beer bottles and soda cans, but not on any weapons. The defense said that the fingerprints found on Walker’s body may have been from natural contact.

“The DNA proves nothing,” Murphy said. “It only proves that they were two people who came in contact with each other.”

After each side presented their closing arguments, Judge Gaziano told the jury to revisit every piece of hard evidence related to the Philip Carrington trial while they deliberate.

The jury left and began deliberations on Friday afternoon.

Prosecution makes case against Carrington as trial continues

Gail Waterhouse — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 16:27:33 -0500

By Meredith Gorman, Mackenzie Nichols, and Alec Cheung

The murder trial of Phillip Carrington, who is accused of strangling and murdering his ex-girlfriend, 47-year-old Celestine Walker, continues as the prosecution presenting evidence from Walker's apartment and DNA evidence as they make their case against Carrington.

On Tuesday, senior forensic analyst Barbara Leal told jurors about the results of DNA tests performed on a sample that investigators collected from under Walker's fingernails, identified as the suspect's DNA, and a sample of 50-year-old Carrington's DNA.

Leal then testified about the highly specific scientific and statistical testing she performed on the samples, which revealed that 99.8 percent of African American males could be excluded from the DNA profile. Carrington, however, could not be excluded because his DNA matched the suspect's DNA on multiple levels of the tests Leal performed.

On Friday, Boston Police criminologist Deborah Kosiorek testified about the fingerprints she analyzed at the 34 Heath St. crime scene.

The prosecution asked Kosiorek to explain her process for examining latent fingerprints, and moved on to ask her about specific fingerprints found in the apartment. Carrington’s fingerprints were found on a bottle of Natural Ice beer, a Pepsi soda can, an ash tray, and a television antenna.

The prosecution focused heavily on the significance of the fingerprints found on the Natural Ice beer can. The victim’s fingerprints were found on a Pepsi soda can.

Kosiorek elaborated on her findings, telling the jury that there were fingerprints from two other men found around the apartment, but Carrington was ultimately named the primary suspect.

When Carrington’s defense attorney, Marty Murphy, questioned Kosiorek, he argued that since none of the objects presented by the prosecution were used as murder weapons, the fingerprints found on the beer bottle, soda can, ash tray, and television antenna are unimportant.

That afternoon, prosecutors showed two video recordings of Carrington’s interview and interrogation to the jury on Friday. The first one occurred before Carrington was officially arrested and voluntarily came to the police for questioning, a fact that he repeated throughout the two videos. According to Carrington in the first video, he was released from jail after his girlfriend, Walker paid off his $240 bail. Carrington said he later helped Walker move into her new home on Heath Street, and spent the evening at Walker’s daughter Ashley’s house as it was Mother’s Day.

There were several inconsistencies in Carrington's account of the events leading up to Walker’s murder. Carrington first stated that he went back to Walker’s place for four days after Mother’s Day in 2013, but later took it all back and said he never saw Walker again after May 5. He also stated at first that he had only had sex with Walker twice on the fifth, but stated in the second interview that he had continued to have sex with Walker until Wednesday of the following week.

Throughout both the videos, Carrington kept alluding that Walker’s murderer was a drug dealer who lived across her street and sold her cocaine and marijuana. “I know who did it,” said Carrington, “It was the same person who killed her brother and sold her drugs.”

Carrington's trial continued Wednesday and was expected to last through the week.