Life Sentence For Hyde Park Ave. Pot Buy Murderer

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A Dorchester man was sentenced to life in prison Friday for the murder of 25-year-old Mariano Malave during a marijuana buy gone bad nearly four years ago on Hyde Park Avenue.

A jury convicted Charles Reddicks, now 21, of second-degree murder and firearm charges on Thursday. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Linda Giles imposed the mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years, with concurrent sentences of five years on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm, followed by one day on a count of carrying a loaded firearm

According to a statement from the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, several of Malave’s family members delivered impact statements detailing how their loved one’s murder has affected their lives.

“I’ll never have the opportunity to talk to him again, to share stories and jokes,” Malave’s cousin told the court. “I’m grateful for the 25 years we had, but we won’t get 25 more.  We’ll never be able to see him grow old, to have kids of his own.”

Prosecutors and police say that Reddicks went to Malave’s apartment at 132 Hyde Park Ave. on April 27, 2012, having told Reddicks he wanted to buy a pound of pot. The jury agreed with the prosecutors’ case that Reddicks shot Malave multiple times, killing him. Reddicks was arrested three weeks later.

At the time of the murder, Reddicks was free on bail in a 2011 case charging unlawful possession of a firearm and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.  In 2013, he pleaded guilty to those charges and received a sentence of three years in prison, which he served awaiting trial for murder.

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