Guilty verdicts in gold chain murder trial

By George P. Hassett

Two men were convicted of first degree murder today for their role in the shooting of a Worcester man who had proposed to his girlfriend just hours earlier.

Valentino Facey, 22, of Cambridge, and Walter Norris, 23, of Dorchester, will be sentenced tomorrow morning. They face life in prison.

“We want to thank the jury for their thoughtful consideration over five days,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said in a statement. “In the end, they returned a just verdict on behalf of Bernard Johnson and his family and friends. This was another example of senseless gun violence in which the victim was confronted by a group of men and violently gunned down in front of his fiance. No verdict can make up for the loss of this young victim, but it does hold the defendants accountable for their violent actions.”

Authorities said Bernard Johnson, 22, of Worcester, and his girlfriend announced their engagement to friends and family at a Linden Street apartment on Aug. 30, 2006. As they were leaving, Facey tried to rob Johnson for a gold chain he was wearing. The two men struggled and prosecutors said Johnson took a gun from Facey and pointed it towards the ground.

Norris then ran to the scene from the apartment where the group had been celebrating and shot Johnson six times, prosecutors said. As he fled the scene he hit Johnson's girlfriend in the head with the gun while Facey kicked Johnson as he lay dead on the ground, prosecutors said.

As the six guilty verdicts were read in court today -- both men were convicted of murder, robbery and assault -- friends and family of Norris and Facey began to cry.

Comments

[michell smith]

George u was in court just like the rest of us and u seen the videos of what happened and it was not over no chain it was over the money johnson had took from facey and the gun was not pointing at the ground it was pointing at them it just dont make sense if someone was robbing u would ur gun be pointing to the ground u seen the videos of what happened so write the real story and mention about the third person who dna was on johnson weapon and did u remember his fiance dna was also on the weapon and how the third person was not found i dnt appreciate u talking about facey and norris the way u r in this artical cuz in my eyes their innocent.

Thank You
Michelle Smith