Man Charged in Paul Pierce Stabbing Loses Court Appeal for Separate South End Stabbing

The same man who spent a year in jail on charges related to the 2000 stabbing of Celtics star Paul Pierce will spend the next 30 years in jail after he lost an appeal in a separate South End stabbing case.

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston ruled on Tuesday that Trevor Watson, 44, received a fair trial and was guilty of stabbing an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration outside of Ann’s Unisex Barbershop in the South End in February 2010. 

Authorities said the informant had provided information in a cocaine trafficking case against Watson, and that Watson had said, ‘You talking, huh? You telling?’ during the attack. He was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. 

Watson appealed his conviction, alleging that the district court erred in admitting certain documents and testimony at trial, and an improper inference drawn by the prosecutor during closing argument irreversibly prejudiced his case. 

During the trial, prision authorities had seized several letters written by Watson indicating he was attempting to get witnesses to change their statements, as witnesses had done in the Paul Pierce case. 

"Have the Barber, TrueC, Bum, or someone have [Best] sign an aff[i]davit saying it[']s a 30 year old Spanish [g]uy," Watson wrote, according to the court decision., and "...The Paul Pierce [case] was the same way, but at trial, he changed his statements and I got found not guilty of [attempted murder]."

The court found there was reasonable cause to believe Watson was guilty and that his trial was fair.  

"Watson's association with an attack on a local sports celebrity is unusually conspicuous, and probably adverse to him -- but not unfairly prejudicial," the court wrote in its decision. 

The court also rejected the appeal on several other issues. You can read the full court decision here.