The trial of an alleged gang member charged with killing 23-year-old Briana Bigby and wounding her boyfriend in a 2013 drive-by shooting in Roxbury recently ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict, records show.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Christine M. Roach declared a mistrial on Nov. 19 in the case against Rasheem Christian, 28, who stood trial on murder and weapons counts in the slaying of Bigby. She was gunned down on the afternoon of June 1, 2013, on Walnut Avenue.
Jurors heard opening statements in Christian’s trial on Nov. 1 and began deliberating on Nov. 13, legal filings show. Six days later they were hopelessly deadlocked.
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District Attorney Rachael Rollins’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Christian’s lawyer, veteran defense attorney Rosemary C. Scapicchio, said Tuesday by phone that a retrial is expected. Prosecutors could retry Christian for murder, offer a plea deal to lesser offenses, or drop the case entirely.
“I think they worked hard, and they just couldn’t reach a decision,” Scapicchio said of the jury.
Prosecutors have alleged in court filings that Christian and codefendant Anthony Howard, both suspected Greenwood Street gang members, were traveling in a rented Durango when it pulled up next to an Altima carrying Bigby and her boyfriend, a suspected member of the Magnolia Intervale Columbia, or MIC, gang.
Witnesses reported hearing three gunshots, records show, and Bigby and her boyfriend were struck. Her boyfriend survived.
Scapicchio said Tuesday that her client denies even being present when Bigby was killed.
“The whole defense was ‘he wasn’t there,’ ” she said. “That was our entire defense and clearly some of the jurors believed him.”
Earlier that day, prosecutors allege, Howard shot two other men who were suspected members of the Thetford Avenue and Wainwright Park gangs, on Humboldt Avenue in Roxbury. Those victims survived.
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Howard, 33, will be tried separately on murder and other charges for his alleged roles in Bigby’s slaying and the earlier double-shooting. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Prosecutors have said in court papers that investigators believe the shooting incidents “occurred because of a gang rivalry or feud between members of Greenwood St. against both Thetford Ave./Wainwright and MIC that existed on June 1, 2013.”
Shortly after Bigby’s death in 2013, her aunt, Darlene Atkins, told the Globe her niece was “a good kid” who “did everything right, nothing wrong.”
Atkins said Bigby had attended college in Baltimore but had not completed her studies. At the time of her death, Atkins said, Bigby worked at a bank and had a second job at a shelter. “She was the perfect daughter. She had her moments, as all kids do growing up, but that had nothing to do with [the shooting],” Atkins said. “She had it going on. She had everything going on for her.”
Atkins said it was hard “to have a precious angel like her taken away too soon, way too soon.”
Fox contributed to this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.