Life Sentence Upheld For Man Who Started 2007 Boston Gunfight

BOSTON — The Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that Manuel Andrade correctly deserves a life sentence without parole for starting a gunfight outside a Geneva Avenue house party in Dorchester that killed a 22-year-old woman visiting from Kentucky in 2007.

Though Andrade, now 47, didn't fire the shot that killed Chiara Levin, the Supreme Court found him guilty of first-degree murder because state law says engaging in a shootout can hold the person responsible for any bystander deaths.

Court documents explain that Levin was in town to celebrate her aunt's 90th birthday. After going to a club with friends, Levin and her two friends were invited to a late-night party on Geneva Avenue by Andrade.

Prosecutors say a shootout happened just as Levin and her friends were attempting to leave the party, about an hour after they arrived.

Levin was hit in the head by a bullet prosecutors say was meant for Andrade, who was convicted of first-degree murder in 2019, even though Casimiro Barros was the man who fired the shot who killed her.

Court documents explain Andrade threw a plate of food towards one of Barros' friends, then began firing his gun at them, hitting one of the men. Chaos ensued, and Andrade pointed to shoot at Barros, who ran towards him.

Several bullets from Burro's gun hit the vehicle Levin and her friends were planning on using to leave, and one of the bullets went through the rear passenger's side window, hitting Levin in the head, documents said.

Two hours after she was shot, doctors found Levin to be "brain dead" and she died shortly after.

Barros was convicted and sentenced in 2009 to 30 years in prison for his role in the gunfight.

Andrade was tried a few months after Barros, where another jury convicted him as well, but on a charge of first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole.

Even though Andrade did not shoot Levin, the Supreme Court found that initiating the shootout was warranted for the first-degree murder charge, as she might not have died if Andrade didn't start the gunfight in the first place.

Suffolk County prosecutors concluded in a 5-0 ruling to affirm Andrade's five convictions, including first-degree murder with no possibility of parole.

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