A trial involving a fatal brawl on a Boston, Massachusetts party bus came to a dramatic close on Friday, when Bryan McElhinney, (24), charged with landing a fatal blow to the head of Brian Hingston, (45), was found not guilty of manslaughter and aggravated battery charges.
In an emotional case that pitted Boston Irish (Mr Hingston was fifth-generation Irish on his father’s side) against Irish natives (Mr McElhinney has spent most of his life with his family in Donegal) the jury of six men and six women delivered their verdict after a brief one hour and 15 minutes of deliberation.
Relatives of Mr Hingston clutched one another, sobbed and held their heads in their hands. A project manager and beloved member of his Quincy community, he left behind three children and his wife of 17 years.
Members of the McElhinney clan were in tears too.
In closing arguments earlier, Mr McElhinney's attorney Michael Doolin tried to dissuade the jury from any idea that witnesses testified in Mr McElhinney's favour because they were from the same county in Ireland.
‘No Donegal conspiracy’
"There is no Donegal conspiracy," said Mr Doolin. He called the notion that "people are part of a conspiracy because they are from the same part of Ireland" an "affront" to the jurors as United States citizens.
Of the 27 witnesses called to the stand by the prosecution, the five witnesses from Co Donegal testified that they had seen that Mr Hingston had some involvement in the fight that led to his death. Their testimony countered the government’s claim that Mr Hingston had acted only as peacemaker, and bolstered the defence’s claim that Mr McElhinney threw the punch in self-defence.
The defence also called to the stand a sole witness, a Kerry man, Patrick Moriarty (23), who stayed with Mr Hingston when his head hit the concrete in the early hours of April 17th, 2016, and took him to a hospital.
“Did you see Brian Hingston push Bryan McElhinney?” asked Mr Doolin.
“No, I seen him throw a punch,” said Mr Moriarty.
The prosecution argued that Mr Hingston had tried to come between Mr McElhinney and another man, to break up a fight, “with his arms up, palms open”.
Battered face
Assistant district attorney Catherine Ham showed the jury photos of Mr Hingston’s battered face, and insisted they needed to look only at his split lip, skull fracture, and brain injuries to conclude that Mr McElhinney committed manslaughter. “All you need to look at are the recipient of those punches,” she said.
She cited witnesses who claimed Mr Hingston did not strike Mr McElhinney, and was only trying to pull another man away. Mr Hingston was “defenceless, unaware and completely unprepared for [A]punch,” said Ms Ham.
She pleaded with the jury to listen again to Mr McElhinney’s voluntary recorded testimony with police, in which he made conflicting statements. She urged them to take time to parse through his thick “brogue”, even though, she claimed, it may be difficult for the American jury to understand.
Lied to police
She said jurors should throw out Mr Moriarty’s testimony because he initially lied to police, before he knew Mr Hingston was dead, claiming that he did not see the fight.
Mr Moriarty insisted that at the time he believed he was protecting both parties, and said that his sympathies remain with both sides. “I feel bad for both of them,” he said.
Mr Doolin said his client, who works as a plasterer, is a soft-spoken man who had only gone out with some relatives to a party, stepping in on behalf of his brother-in-law when his brother-in-law was too drunk to fight. Mr Doolin said Mr McElhinney’s wife was in the courtroom on Friday, after delivering their first child, a son, the Sunday before.
Mr McElhinney looked straight ahead as the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.