More than eight years after Curtis Boston Jr. was chased through the streets of Camp Washington, abducted and killed, the 25-year-old's family were finally given the chance to confront his killers in court.
A West Side youth football coach and an alleged Chicago gang leaderwere sentenced on Aug. 27 in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court to at least 53 years to life in prison for what prosecutorsdescribed as the calculated killing of Boston
.William McGivens, 39, and Quincy Ray, 45, were convicted of all counts, including aggravated murder, in a nearly two-week jury trial that ended earlier this month.
Boston's family members stood in the courtroom and looked at both men as they expressed the anger and grief they've been living with for nearly a decade.
"It was a cowardly act," Curtis Boston Sr. said in court about his son's killing. "He trusted you. You tricked him."
McGivens and Ray ambushed Boston in the parking lot of the Family Dollar store on Burlington Place on Dec. 8, 2017, and fired more than 50 rounds from a rifle, prosecutors said, with the two men continuing to hunt down Boston as the man ran for his life.
Judge calls convicted gunmen 'a danger to our community'
They chased Boston through the neighborhood in an SUV as a third person drove, pinned him against a fence, beat him and abducted him, according to trial testimony. He was found shot to death and partially burned in the back lot of a commercial building in Fairview the next night.
Two other men were shot in the barrage of gunfire in Camp Washington: Boston's friend who drove him to the store, and an Uber driver who stopped to eat a meal before work. They both survived. Prosecutors said the Uber driver was shot for being a possible witness.
Video played in court showed "this was a planned, violent attack," Judge Leah Dinkelacker said before handing down the sentences. "You are both a danger to our community."
Prosecutors sought a prison term for both men of life without parole, noting their respective criminal histories. McGivens was convicted of abduction in 2020 and sentenced to three years. Ray is currently serving a 10-year federal sentence out of Wisconsin and has numerous prior convictions for gun and drug crimes.
"This is what life without parole in an aggravated murder case is meant for," Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Jackie Stachowiak said in court.
A planned ambush, chase in Camp Washington
Prosecutors said that Boston told his sister of a plan to meet a friend named "Will," who owed him $500. It was her birthday and the last time she ever heard from her brother.
Shortly after Boston and his friend arrived at the Family Dollar parking lot, a Saturn Outlook pulled up beside them for a planned meeting. What they didn’t know at the time was that the SUV’s driver dropped off McGivens and Ray, prosecutors said, who awaited their target armed with rifles and concealed their approach.
The SUV pulled away just before the first gunshots rang out. Boston had exited his friend’s vehicle and was forced to run away, at one point hanging onto the side of a moving van in an attempt to escape.
Surveillance footage played in court showed one of the gunmen was let out of the SUV and fired rounds at Boston from the sidewalk. Prosecutors said that two men were working together that night, but all the rounds were fired from the same gun.
On Dec. 9, 2017, police recovered three shell casings at the scene where Boston’s body was found that matched the casings recovered from Camp Washington, revealing the crimes were connected.
How cell, digital records led to convictions in 25-year-old's killing
Video evidence wasn't enough to identify the gunmen, so investigators relied on cellphone and digital records to place McGivens and Ray at the crime scene, where McGivens' phone was left amid clusters of shell casings.
McGivens’ cellphone records showed that, around the time of the killing, his phone communicated with Boston's and with a number later tied to Ray. Phone and Facebook records also showed that McGivens was a West Side Panthers youth football coach and that the phone was in his hands just a day before the shooting.
Investigators connected McGivens to the SUV used in the crime. It was stolen from his close friend, who sometimes let him drive the vehicle to take kids to football practice. The SUV was never found despite an exhaustive search by law enforcement.
Google GPS data tied to Ray’s phone showed the device left the Chicago area several days before the killing and arrived at the home of his children’s mother in Cincinnati, according to testimony.
Ray’s phone was later placed at the Family Dollar around the time of the shooting, prosecutors said, pointing to calls between his device and Boston only minutes before the gunfire erupted.
His number was listed under the contact name “Will” in Boston’s phone.
Cincinnati police Detective Eric Karaguleff said in court that McGivens was likely using Ray’s phone to talk with Boston. He added that Boston knew McGivens, but not Ray. The Google records showed a search the next day for “Any leads in shooting on Hopple Street?”
The U.S. Marshals Service identified Ray as a suspected high-ranking leader of the Black P Stones street gang in Chicago, after his early 2017 arrest at Kenwood Towne Centre on warrants from Lake County, Illinois.
Boston's death follows family 'every single day'
McGivens and Ray have maintained their innocence throughout the criminal proceedings, with their attorneys arguing at trial that cellphone records don't prove they were the killers. The attorneys indicated that both men plan to file an appeal.
For Boston's family, it's not a question of who did it. They've finally obtained a measure of justice for their loved one's violent death, although they believe there are others responsible who haven't been held accountable.
"Y'all know who got y'all to do it," Curtis Boston Sr. said. "I know everything. I know every person involved."
Boston is remembered by his family as more than a victim of targeted violence. He was a son, a grandson, a brother, an uncle and a friend. They carried posters and framed pictures of Boston in the courtroom and also wore clothing bearing the young man's image.
"It has followed our family every single day," Keyiona Boston, a cousin who described Boston as being a brother to her, said in court. "There is no sentence that this court can hand down that will ever give us back what y'all stole."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Football coach, alleged gang leader sentenced for 'planned, violent' killing
