nothin “Boom Boom” Gets Life In Prison For Fair… | New Haven Independent

Boom Boom” Gets Life In Prison For Fair Haven Triple Arson

Aliyya Swaby Photo

Filing down the court steps after a judge sentenced arsonist Hector Boom Boom” Natal to life in prison, the family he victimized called out: We got justice! We got justice!”

Natal, who is 29, set fire to a multi-family Fair Haven house where the Roberson and Foster families lived on March 9, 2011, in retaliation for an unpaid drug debt, leading to the death of three people.

He was convicted and sentenced Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court for four different crimes — conspiring to deal drugs, attempting arson, committing a deadly act of arson, and tampering with witnesses.

Defense attorney Michael Sheehan argued Natal’s mild intellectual disability should get him a shorter sentence, since it was not clear whether he understood the scope of the fire.” But Judge Janet Bond Arterton said there was no evidence showing Natal did not understand the unlawfulness of arson” or that he could not learn from past actions.

She called Natal’s disability a double-edged sword,” because it has narrowed his life opportunities” and is dangerous in combination with his demonstrated uncaring personality and willingness to commit violence.”

Roberson family members filled the courtroom benches and spilled out into the hallway. A few of them gave testimony before the judge. As a unit, as a family, we’ve all been waiting for this day, for closure,” said Jamaica Roberson (pictured at top), who watched her family members jump from the second-story window as the building burned down. We’re very thankful for today.” Seventeen people were at 48 – 50 Wolcott St. when Natal set fire to the house.

Natal declined to speak before he was sentenced.

Poverty and Ignorance”

Natal was a special-education student who dropped out of school at 16, and repeatedly scored between 40 and 60 on IQ tests more than 10 years ago. He does not know how to read well.

In an agrarian society, perhaps Hector [Natal] could have held his own,” Sheehan said. But the crop of Fair Haven is drug dealing.” He argued that the law used to execute” the intellectually disabled, but now takes a thoughtful and humane position” and considers the limitations of people like Natal. When fully competent adults set fire to a building where people are living, maybe it makes sense that whether…they intended people to die really wouldn’t make a difference,” Sheehan said. But Natal may not have intended that, or realized the consequences of his actions.

Gasoline fires can quickly get out of hand,” Sheehan said, relating a personal story about accidentally setting a large fire using gasoline when camping with his children. Hopefully they, too, will remember what happened when dad did that.”

Ultimately, Natal’s character was a result of the social disorganization of his childhood and poverty and ignorance” that surrounded him in his Fair Haven neighborhood, Sheehan argued. He has been affected by poor parenting, with a father who was a phantom presence” in the home and who drove him to drug deals.”

Natal’s father Hector Morales was convicted Jan. 9 of assisting Natal with dealing cocaine, marijuana and other substances, driving him to deals and warning him when he thought police were watching. He drove Natal from the scene of the crime and then painted the blue van black to obstruct the investigation. Morales was sentenced to 14.5 years in prison, with supervised release for three years.

The three deaths following the fire were horrible but unintended consequences,” Sheehan argued. Natal is nowhere close to irreparable corruption.”

Family Over Money

Addressing the court, Lawrence Alexander, father of 8‑year-old arson victim Quayshawn Roberson, said poverty was no excuse for Natal to commit violence against innocent people. Alexander (pictured right) also grew up Fair Haven, in poverty. He never turned to violence, he said. I was raised in a foster home. I’ve held a job down for 23 years. … Money means nothing to somebody’s life.”

Quayshan’s mother Wanda and his cousin Jaqueeta also died trying to escape the house. Jaqueeta was found sheltering Quayshawn from the smoke. Evidence showed that Natal spread gasoline on the stairs and at the entrances of both apartments, ensuring there was no safe exit for either family.

Months before Natal set the fire, two Roberson children found Natal on their second floor landing trying to light the carpet on fire. After the arson, he had his family members, including his father Morales, obstruct the government’s investigation,” according to the sentencing memo.

Phone records and testimony from witnesses suggest that Natal was looking for revenge against Tobius Foster, who lived at the house on Wolcott, for a small marijuana debt, according to the sentencing memo.

Wanda’s mother Margaret (pictured left) used her time testifying to speak directly to Natal: You stole three lives and then you had the nerve to laugh about it. … You said, Somebody takes something from me. I take it back.’ Did you get paid? You didn’t get your money. You took my babies’ lives.” She said she hoped Natal would be in prison forever so he will understand” what it feels like to never see his kids grow up.

U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly also called up Dan Coughlin, firefighter at the scene of the arson. Coughlin also refuted Sheehan’s argument that poverty in Fair Haven was responsible for Natal’s violent act. First and foremost, I am a product of Fair Haven,” Coughlin said.

He said he would always remember that fire, because his colleagues, tough guys of the fire department,” found themselves completely taken aback by what they saw that night.” The loss of life and the intensity of the incident ensured it stayed in his memory.

Collecting Debts

Jasmine Roberson (left) holding her son, Coughlin, cop Michael Mastropetre, Daly and Attorney Michael Gustafson

Daly said that the judge should definitely take Natal’s disability into account, but only to avoid giving him the death penalty. Natal should get life in prison, because it was clear that his disability did not prevent him from running a drug business, planning and carefully executing a violent crime, and conspiring to cover it up afterward, she said.

A life sentence would show future would-be offenders that violence in the inner city is not OK,” and destroys the fabric of the lives” of its majority law-abiding citizens, she said. Even after setting the fire, Natal continued to deal drugs and collect money using threats, Daly said. he didn’t change as a result of the trial. He became more callous.”

In a recorded conversation, after the arson, Natal urged a colleague to rough up” a debilitatingly sick blind man who owed him $20, saying, If that’s what he wants, feel me, if I’m going to go over there, I’ll wanna put my hands on that nigga. Feel me? He can’t see nothing.” After the conviction, he continued to deal drugs through his family members and admitted that he is a long-time member of the Latin Kings gang.

Judge Arterton agreed that Natal continued to pose a danger and that he was unlikely to change. It’s clear that the public needs protection,” she said. Though she had a hard time deciding how to take into account his intellectual disability, she said the evidence is clear that he learns” and learned from his earlier failed arson attempt how to perfect the next one. At first, he set fire to the carpet, but on the second try, he knew to use an accelerant, not just matches,” knew to head to the house under the cover of darkness, knew to get his father to help him get away. He is a slow learner, yes, but not a non-learner.”

She said there was no evidence he had tried to obtain legitimate employment after he became an adult.” Instead he showed that his personality was manipulative and deceitful.” His disability has not led to social isolation” in his adult years; to the contrary, Natal has many employees in his drug business and was part of a gang until he completed the renunciation process” recently.

Natal will not be fined because he is unable to pay.

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