Conviction Vacated In 1979 Murder Of Cab Driver In Roslindale

ROSLINDALE, MA – The Suffolk County District Attorney's office on Tuesday vacated the conviction of Frederick Clay for the 1979 murder of Jeffrey Boyajian in Roslindale. The DA's office also moved to end any further prosecution in the 28-year-old cab driver's murder.

Boyajian was robbed and shot five times in the head after picking up three men in what was then known as Boston's "Combat Zone." Clay, 16 at the time, was tried as an adult.

Due to court rulings prohibiting life sentences for juveniles in murder cases, Clay had been paroled last year and was living in a minimum-security prison ahead of his release, according to the Boston Globe. He and his lawyers were seeking a new trial and moved to have the evidence against him reexamined.

The aim of a new trial? To clear his name, he told the Globe.

The district attorney's office motioned to end all proceedings against Clay after examining the original evidence, including testimony from a cab driver who said he saw three men enter Boyajian's cab the morning of Nov. 16, 1979 and a developmentally disabled man whose apartment overlooked the site of the killing. In both cases, investigators used hypnosis – an accepted law enforcement tactic at the time – but it is believed to have been unsuccessful on the second witness.

Conley had concerns about the use of hypnosis and concurred with Clay's claim that he was not adequately represented at his original trial. Clay's defense of mistaken identity may have been bolstered by his attorneys challenging one of the identifications more aggressively or pursuing a plausible alternative suspect, according to Conley.

Clay has maintained for decades that he was at a foster home when Boyajian was killed.

The results of the re-investigation into Clay's possible role in the murder by the DA's Conviction Integrity Program, Conley said, did not offer "conclusive proof" of his innocence but raised substantial doubt as to the fairness of his trial.

"Upon review of the evidence, including that advanced by the defendant in his motion and that gathered by the Commonwealth after receiving the motion, and after extensive investigation and scrutiny by this office’s Conviction Integrity Program, the Commonwealth has concluded that the interests of justice would not be served by the prosecution of this case," Conley’s office wrote in the nolle prosequi filed at a hearing on a defense motion for new trial.

Also present at Tuesday's hearing were Boyajian's brother, Jerry, and sister-in-law, who supported the district attorney's decision.

Jerry Boyajian told the Globe Tuesday that justice was "absolutely" done and said Clay spending much of his life behind bars was "horrific."

Undated family photo of Jeffrey Boyajian, via Suffolk DA's office