Boston Rape-Murder Suspect Denied Bail, May Be Tried as Juvenile

A judge denied bail Friday for one of five juveniles charged in the Halloween rape and murder of a 26-year-old woman, and a black leader called for the police commissioner’s ouster.

“At this point in time, I think that he should be tried as a juvenile,” said the youth’s attorney, Juliane Balliro, after a closed hearing in Suffolk Superior Court. “He is 15 years of age and he has no prior criminal involvement whatsoever.”

Balliro’s client is one of eight youths charged in the death of Kimberly Rae Harbour. She was bludgeoned, repeatedly raped, and stabbed more than 100 times, according to police.

The Suffolk County district attorney is seeking to have the five juveniles charged as adults in her death. Three other young men aged 17, 18 and 19 were charged as adults.

Conviction as an adult on a charge of first-degree murder would bring an automatic life sentence without parole. If the five youths are found delinquent as juveniles, they could be released on their 18th birthday.

Also on Friday, a leader in the city’s black community called for the resignation of Boston Police Commissioner Francis Roache.

Sadiki Kambon criticized the department’s investigation of Harbour’s death, and said authorities had mishandled a number of cases in the city’s Roxbury section.

He repeated criticism of the police handling of the Stuart case. The shooting death of Carol Stuart brought police into minority neighborhoods to search for a suspect after Stuart’s husband, Charles, said he and his pregnant wife were attacked by a black mugger.

Charles Stuart later apparently committed suicide after he learned that he had become a prime suspect in the case.

There was no immediate response from Roache to the call for his resignation.

Meanwhile, a possible witness of Harbour’s death said she has been warned not to talk to authorities.

“I need some protection,” Laura Peterson, 40, told the Boston Herald. Peterson told police she fled to safety while eight young men chased Harbour into a park in the city’s Dorchester section.