Crime & Safety

Roslindale Gang Member Given Life Term in Murder of Teen

Instead of being at a Red Sox game, Ricardo Arias, of Roslindale, went and shot someone from a rival gang area.


A Roslindale man was given a life sentence on Tuesday for the first-degree murder in the 2011 shooting death of 18-year-old Alex Sierra.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury on July 25 found Ricardo Arias, 20, guilty of murder and unlawful possession of a firearm in connection with the unprovoked shooting that claimed Sierra’s life on Sept. 3, 2011, according to a press release from Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley's office.

On the day of Sierra’s murder Arias was on a one-day pass from the custody of the Department of Youth Services, during which time he was supposed to be at Fenway Park watching a Red Sox game. But instead witness testimony and cell phone records proved he left the ballpark two hours prior to the murder and went with the co-defendant to a rival gang's territory for the shooting.

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Assistant District Attorney Amy Galatis recommended Arias, who lived in Roslindale, should get life in prison without the possibility of parole for Sierra’s murder. Arias was 17, and in the custody of the Department of Youth Services following a delinquency adjudication for unlawfully possessing a loaded firearm on an earlier date.

According to Massachusetts law, the crime of first-degree murder carries a statutory punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole. But a 2012 US Supreme Court decision, found automatic life without parole for defendants younger than 18 at the time of the crime is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. 

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The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts is expected to reconcile state law with the federal decision later this year, according to the DA's office.

“I have the authority to sentence Mr. Arias to life in prison,” said Suffolk Superior Court Judge Linda Giles via press release. “That is the sentence. The issue of his parole eligibility will be determined by the Supreme Judicial Court.”

Giles also sentenced Arias to an additional term of three to five years in prison on the gun conviction, to run from and after his life term on the murder conviction.

Sierra’s mother addressed the court prior to the sentencing. 

“My proudest moment as a mother has been collecting certificates of achievement, watching Alex get promoted to the fourth grade shortly after beginning third grade, and, as a teen, being a part of two MIT enrichment programs for talented students,” she said. “We all knew Alex was truly talented, with plans to move far beyond a college education. According to one of his MIT program professors, ‘Alex represented the best of what kids can achieve.’”

She described her son from the South End as smart, kind, and beloved young man who loved the Christmas season not just for the gifts he received, but also for the ones he would give to his parents and two older sisters. “It was a blessing for me to see just how much time he had put into picking out gifts that fit each of our needs and to write thoughtful ‘I love you’ letters,” she said. “Sadly, the Christmas season is no longer what it used to be.”

Arias’ co-defendant, Antonio Saez, 19, pleaded guilty in May to a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 22 months in prison followed by four years of probation. Though Saez was a juvenile at the time of Sierra’s murder, he was indicted as a youthful offender, making his name and the proceedings against him open to the public, and exposing him to the same penalties as an adult, said Conley.

During a two-week trial, ADA Amy Galatis of the DA’s Homicide Unit showed evidence and testimony that Arias shot Sierra as part of a long-running gang rivalry between Arias’ Mission Hill-area group, and another group affiliated with the Villa Victoria housing development. Sierra was not involved with either group or their feud, according to the DA's office.

“It was a cold-blooded act,” Conley said. “It was planned and premeditated and it claimed a promising young man’s life for absolutely no reason at all.”

On the day of Sierra’s murder, Arias was on a one-day pass from the custody of the Department of Youth Services, during which time he was supposed to be at Fenway Park watching a Red Sox game. But witness testimony and cell phone records contradicted what he was supposed to be doing, and that he left the ballpark two hours prior to the murder and went with Saez to the area of Villa Victoria. 

Witnesses testified Arias approached several young men and asked if they were “from the Villa,” according to the DA's office. The last person he approached was Sierra, who answered he was - then Arias pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots at Sierra, who staggered into a barbershop where he collapsed and was pronounced dead at the Boston Medical Center.

Arias and Saez were seen running from the scene, and a partial license plate number of the vehicle the two entered was provided by a witness. Police saw the vehicle minutes later in the Mission Hill area. Officers saw both Arias and Saez run from the vehicle, and Saez was seen tossing an item into a dumpster on Prentiss Street. Police retrieved that handgun that proved to be a ballistic match to shell casings found at the scene of Sierra’s murder.


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