Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced this week that Jesse Camacho, 28, of East Boston will not receive a new trial. Camacho is serving a life sentence for the 2010 first-degree murder conviction in the shooting death of 28-year-old Jeff Santiago at King Arthur’s Lounge in Chelsea during 2008.
The Supreme Judicial Court issued its decision on Tuesday, affirming Camacho’s conviction in Santiago’s fatal shooting as well as the non-fatal shootings of another man and a King Arthur’s Lounge employee. The violence erupted following a physical altercation that was initiated by an associate of Santiago.
On appeal, Camacho raised several arguments, including a claim that the trial judge improperly excluded evidence regarding prior bad acts by Santiago and his associates. Camacho had sought to use this evidence to demonstrate he was acting in defense of his own associates. The court determined that such evidence is admissible only when the identity of the initial aggressor remains disputed. In this case, it was established that a member of Santiago’s group started the altercation.
The justices found no error in the trial judge’s ruling.
“Given this largely undisputed evidence, the primary question for the jury was not who began the altercation or escalated it to deadly force, but rather whether the defendant was legally entitled to use the force that he did in defense of another,” the justices wrote.
The court also noted that evidence clearly showed Santiago was not involved in the altercation itself. Instead, he had left his group several minutes before the fight broke out and was shot while attempting to escape the gunfire.
Camacho further contended that jurors should have received instructions permitting them to consider a manslaughter conviction, arguing they could have found he acted in the heat of passion or that the shooting was accidental. The justices rejected this argument as without merit.
Regarding prosecutors’ descriptions of Santiago’s death during closing arguments, the justices found no undue prejudice resulted from the vivid account or from the prosecution’s characterization of Camacho’s actions as involving extreme atrocity and cruelty.
The court also denied Camacho’s request for post-conviction discovery concerning gang affiliations of Santiago and his associates, finding insufficient evidence that such affiliations existed or that this information would have altered the trial’s outcome. Prosecutors had provided all requested discovery before trial, including details about the individual who initiated the bar confrontation—the only member of Santiago’s group with documented gang connections.
During the two-week 2010 trial, prosecutors presented evidence and witness testimony establishing that on January 25, 2008, Camacho and Santiago were at King Arthur’s Lounge in Chelsea with separate groups of associates. A member of Santiago’s group struck one of Camacho’s friends with a bottle, triggering a physical altercation. Video evidence and witness accounts demonstrated that Santiago had separated from his companions minutes before the fight started and played no role in it.
As the altercation unfolded, Camacho drew a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun and opened fire. Santiago fled the bar but was struck in the leg and fell. As Camacho pursued others from the establishment, he fired twice more at Santiago, striking him in the chest and back. Santiago died from his injuries.
Two others sustained non-fatal gunshot wounds during the incident—a member of Santiago’s group and a bouncer.
Following the shooting, Camacho left the county and was apprehended in Mexico City in October 2008. He was extradited to the United States in March 2009 with assistance from the State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Department of State, and the Mexican Agencia Federal de Investigación.
First Assistant District Attorney Patrick Haggan, then serving as the DA’s chief trial counsel, prosecuted the case at trial. Assistant District Attorney Zachary Hillman of the DA’s Appellate Unit presented the case during the appeal. Elizabeth Billowitz represented Camacho on appeal.