Draft:Guido St. Laurent

Guido St. Laurent was a

Prison sentence and blinding
While he was serving his sentence at MCI-Walpole, an accident blinded St. Laurent.

Community organizing
After being released from prison, St. Laurent became a community organizer, founding the New England Grass Roots Organization (N.E.G.R.O.), a civil rights group.

St. Laurent also came to work at Woolman Systems. Woolman Systems was, at the time, a significant sub-contractor of a new nearly $2 million program to provide employment to the chronically unemployed as part of the Roxbury-Dorchester-South End Greater Boston Consortium that was implementing a job training program in Boston. Along with Carnell Eaton and others, St. Laurent served on the consortium. Per testimony by Frederick B. Rose for the prosecution in the 1969 murder trial subsequent to St. Laurent's murder, in addition to the N.E.G.R.O. nonprofit, St. Laurent operated a for-profit firm called Public Relations Organization (PRO) and had hopes of this firm receiving $147,000 from the consortium for work in advertising and public relations. Rose testified that in addition to St. Laurent, St. Laurent's wife as well as Rose and his own wife were the incorporators of this firm.

Murder
On November 13, 1968 at the organization's headquarters office on Blue Hill Avenue in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, St. Laurent was murdered in a gun attack. Also killed were fellow NEGRO organization leaders Carnell Eaton, and Harold King. Surviving the attack was Ronald Hicks and Frederick B. Rose. Also surviving the attack was St. Laurent's guide dog, Russ.

300 attended St. Laurent's funeral service held on November 15, 1968. Many civic leaders and civil rights activists attended his funeral, such as United Front leader Chuck Turner and Urban League President Harry Elan.

1969 trial and acquittal of Campbell brothers and Dennis W. Chandler for murder
After the triple murders, law enforcement was soon directed to survivor Ronald Hicks (a pimp) to investigate the "Campbell brothers" (Alvin and Albert Campbell) and Dennis W. Chandler as suspect. Hicks assigned the potential motive of a dispute over the federal funds that were being provided to Woolman Systems. In March 1969, Hicks, who was the prosecution's main witness, was shot to death. It is believed that Johnny Martorano perpetrated this murder and had done so in order to prevent Hicks from testifying against the Campbell brothers. The Campbell brothers had been working as salaried employees at the Boston operation of the New York City-based firm Woolman Systems. Also working at this firm were murder victims St. Laurent and Harold King. described as specializing, "in work in ghettos with the federal government". At the time of the murders, Alvin Campbell had just started working as the project director for an automative training center operated by the firm and Arnold Campbell had just become the automotive centers director of training. Alleged accomplice Dennis W. Chandler worked as the night watchman at the automotive training center.

On charges that included first degree homicide, the three men were tried in the Suffolk County Superior Court. The trial lasted three weeks. The trial had an all-white jury (selected in a week-long jury selection), while all three defendants were black.

In the case against the three men, the prosecution alleged that they had committed the murder and assault with intent to murder with their alleged motive being a dispute over federal money that had been provided for the purposes of providing job training to chronically unemployed Roxbury residents.

The defense, among other things, pointed out that one of the guns that was used to commit the murders was later found three days after the murders in the possession Ronald Randolph, a man that was shot and killed during a police chase. The state had chosen not to put forth any theories of how the gun came into the possession of Randolph. A photo was also displayed by the defense that placed Randolph at the murder scene the night of the killings. However, a photo was shown to Frederick B. Rose, who had survived the shooting, who testified that he was certain that Randolph was not one of the men involved in the attack. A witness who knew the defendants testified for the defense that he saw five men flee the NEGRO headquarters on the night the murders were committed, and that he was confident that those men were not the defendants. Additionally, the wives of each Campbell brothers and the girlfriend of Chandler corroborated alibis that they had been with their respective partners the night that the murders occurred.

On June 1969, the three men were acquitted.

Personal life
At the time of his death, St. Lauren was married to Sandra St. Laurent, who was also blind.

External link

 * U.S. British Pathé video report on murder of St. Laurent (1968)
 * FBI case file on the murder of St. Laurent