Press Release from Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley
BOSTON, April 26, 2006—A man who shot and killed a teenager outside a downtown cinema will spend the rest of his life in prison after a Superior Court jury convicted him of first-degree murder and other charges this afternoon.
Jurors deliberated for parts of two days before convicting DARRYL SCOTT, 25 (D.O.B. 4/13/81), with the December 2002 shooting of 18-year-old Nabil Essaid outside the Loews Theatre on Tremont Street. Scott was also convicted of assault with intent to kill, assault with a dangerous weapon, and unlawful firearm possession and ammunition charges in connection with the murder and with his February 2003 arrest – when he pointed the same gun he had used in the murder at pursuing police officers and then put the gun to his own head in a Dorchester alley before surrendering to hostage negotiators.
Immediately after the verdict was read at approximately 3:30 p.m., Scott become violent in the courtroom, pushing the table he was sitting at and resisting an attempt by a court officer to handcuff him. He continued to resist for about a minute, flailing wildly and shouting obscenities as several court officers were required to restrain him and remove him from the courtroom.
Scott will be sentenced tomorrow morning in Courtroom 808 of Suffolk Superior court before Justice Charles Spurlock. He faces the mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole and additional sentences for the assault and firearms convictions.
Jurrors convicted Scott, a Mattapan resident, after listening to a presentation of evidence by Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin that showed that on the evening of Dec. 14, 2002, the defendant opened fire on Essaid and his friends as they stood outside the Loew’s cinema. One bullet fired by Scott from a .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun hit Essaid, a Revere resident. After the shooting, Scott ran away down Tremont Street, toward Government Center, past a crowd of people on the sidewalk.
The fatal shooting followed by several weeks an earlier assault of Essaid at the hands of the defendant. In that earlier incident, Essaid and two friends were leaving the Downtown Crossing MBTA station when Scott pointed a different handgun at Essaid and tried to rob him.
On the night of the murder, evidence showed that Scott emerged from the theater’s lobby around 7:30 p.m. while Essaid and two friends were smoking cigarettes outside. Scott walked up to Essaid, said “remember me,” and sparked a confrontation that ended with Scott taking the .40 caliber out of his waistband, racking it, and firing in quick succession at Essaid’s two friends, missing them, and then at Essaid, hitting him once in his stomach and causing his death.
Scott was arrested on Feb. 6, 2003, after Boston police drug detectives tried to speak to him after conducting surveillance of him and another drug suspect on Bowdoin Street in Dorchester. After the officers approached Scott and identified themselves, he ran away, reaching for something in his waistband area as he did so.
During the ensuing foot chase, Scott reached into a holster on his waistband and drew a Glock .40 caliber handgun. He pointed the gun at pursuing officers. Scott hid under a tarp in the alley; as officers entered the alley, he jumped out from under the tarp holding the gun to his head and said he did not want to go to prison for life. Eventually, with the help of hostage negotiators and his father, Scott surrendered.
Technicians later matched the gun taken from Scott after his arrest to ballistics evidence from the murder of Essaid and attempted murder of his two friends outside the theater.
