Bouncer acquitted of hiding gun after fatal shooting at Worcester strip club

WORCESTER — A former Hurricane Betty’s bouncer accused of hiding a firearm following a fatal 2022 shooting inside the strip club was acquitted Tuesday in Worcester Superior Court.

Shawn M. Lawson, who elected to take his case to a judge instead of a jury, was found not guilty of withholding evidence following a brief trial in which his lawyer questioned the legality of the testimony elicited against him.

The lawyer, Blake J. Rubin, did not file a motion to strike the testimony and the judge, Daniel M. Wrenn, did not comment on his verdict from the bench.

Authorities in May 2022 accused Lawson of removing a firearm from the 350 Southbridge St. club following a March 26, 2022, shooting in which one man died.

Police have not announced any other charges in connection with the shooting.

The only non-police witness the prosecution called in the case Tuesday, club manager Joseph O’Grady, testified that Lawson admitted to him that he took the firearm and that it was a “stupid thing to do.”

O’Grady, on cross-examination, testified that police had asked him to speak to Lawson in the hopes of retrieving the firearm — something Rubin argued was improper because Lawson had already retained a lawyer and invoked his rights not to speak to police.

The shooting took place around 1:15 a.m. March 26, 2022. On the stand Tuesday, Worcester Detective Robert Molinari testified there was an argument near the rear of the club that preceded the shooting.

Molinari agreed with a suggestion from Assistant District Attorney Anthony H. Melia that the shooting continued “throughout the club.” Molinari said “at least two” firearms were discharged and that evidence suggested projectiles were shot from inside the club toward a patio.

Molinari testified that the man killed, 27-year-old Deondre Matthews Sr., was seen on video collapsing near the club entrance.

Prosecutors played a surveillance video in court that showed Matthews collapsing in the doorway and patrons rushing past and over his bleeding body to get out of the club as Lawson was tending to him.

The video was not smooth, with lapses making it impossible to see everything that occurred. At one point, Lawson was seen pointing toward what appeared to be a firearm on the ground near Matthews; soon after, the object was gone.

Molinari testified the video showed Lawson appearing to move his leg toward the object prior to it disappearing. He agreed one could not tell exactly what happened.

Authorities in 2022 alleged the firearm had fallen from Matthews’ waistband. Molinari testified that one can’t see on the video how the object got on the ground, but said it happened around the time Lawson turned Matthews over.

Molinari testified that retrieving the alleged firearm was important to the police investigation, but no firearm was recovered by police when they searched the club.

The second witness, O’Grady, testified that police had told him shortly after the shooting they suspected Lawson had removed the firearm.

He testified that, when he went to speak with Lawson in his driveway on a date he could not recall, Lawson admitted to taking the gun.

“He didn’t know why he did it — it was a stupid thing to do — he didn’t know where the gun is now,” O’Grady recalled being told.

On cross-examination, Rubin noted that Hurricane Betty’s faced sanctions including a suspension of its liquor license in the wake of the shooting.

After O’Grady agreed that the business had been cooperative with police, Rubin confronted him over the timing of his disclosure of Lawson’s alleged admission.

Rubin suggested that, while O’Grady had been told by police that Lawson was suspected of removing the firearm shortly after the shooting, he didn’t tell police what he knew until late April.

“I was asked to talk to the defendant by the police,” O’Grady replied. “I did so and I reported what happened.”

Rubin asked a number of follow-up questions, with O’Grady saying he did not recall which detective had asked him to speak to Lawson.

Asked by Rubin whether the detective had informed him that Lawson had asserted his right to remain silent or to have a lawyer, O’Grady testified he had not.

O’Grady testified that the detective told him he was the best person to “convince” Lawson to turn the gun back over. O’Grady could not recall whether the detective he spoke with was one of two detectives he said he met with at the Worcester courthouse to inform them of what Lawson said.

O’Grady — who testified he spoke to a lawyer before meeting with police — said he wasn’t good with dates and wasn’t sure about how much time had elapsed between Lawson’s disclosure and that meeting. He said he didn’t know the names of the two officers he met at the courthouse because he wasn’t familiar with them.

Rubin suggested that O’Grady met with the Worcester police officers the same day he agreed to drop an appeal against the City of Worcester regarding his club’s licensing issues.

O’Grady replied that he didn’t believe that was correct and that the two things were unrelated.

The prosecution tried to recall O’Grady to the stand after he had concluded and a brief recess had elapsed. Wrenn did not allow the request.

The state did not call any other witnesses, and Lawson — who has been free on bail — declined to put on any defense.

In brief arguments to Wrenn prior to his deliberation, Rubin argued that O’Grady’s testimony and memory appeared “questionable,” and, also, that it appeared police had tried to “circumvent” Lawson’s rights by sending O’Grady to speak with him.

Wrenn, after deliberating for less than an hour, delivered his not guilty verdict.

Spokespeople for the Worcester Police Department and for Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. declined to comment Tuesday.

Lawson declined to comment outside the courtroom.

Matthews, of Worcester, was described by family in his obituary as a devout father for whom family came first.

He attended the city’s schools and worked landscaping, family said, and was also a talented singer and drummer.

Matthews had a record with Worcester police — who accused him of being a gang member — and was sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 after admitting to shooting a man during a 2014 marijuana holdup.

He saw separate charges of assault dropped in 2014 after an alleged victim — himself a murder suspect — declined to testify, citing Fifth Amendment rights.

At sentencing in the 2016 case, his lawyer and family spoke on his behalf, saying he had made mistakes in the past but had a bright future ahead.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Hurricane Betty's bouncer acquitted of hiding gun after fatal shooting