The 53-year-old man facing drug and gun charges after allegedly crashing into a Dorchester nursery school was previously twice convicted of double murder before he was exonerated due to DNA evidence.
Dorchester man Ronnie Qualls served 27 years in prison before he was released in 2020 when a Suffolk County judge tossed his convictions based on DNA blood evidence.
Qualls has since filed lawsuits related to the “erroneous and wrongful felony convictions” against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in state court, and Boston Police in federal court.
Unrelated to that court activity this week, Qualls’ name popped up in the news when he allegedly slammed his vehicle into Ashmont Nursery School, causing significant damage to the building. He’s also facing drug and gun charges, Boston Police said.
The Suffolk DA’s office confirmed he’s the same person who was twice convicted of killing a pair of brothers more than 30 years ago before new DNA evidence helped free him from prison.
In the early morning hours of Oct. 3, 1992, a gunman shot and killed brothers Roosevelt “Tony” Price and Ronald “Dallas” Price. The close-range shooting was in the back of a car in Roxbury.
Minutes after he was shot and before he died, Tony Price told Boston police officers that Junior Williams had shot him. Cops interviewed Williams, who gave police his bloodstained sweatshirt. Eventually, police let Williams go.
Qualls, who has always maintained his innocence, was implicated for the double murder. Williams told police that Qualls killed the brothers.
Also, three eyewitnesses who initially said Qualls was not the shooter later identified Qualls as the shooter after allegedly receiving favorable treatment from police and prosecutors on their own criminal cases, Qualls’ lawyer said.
Meanwhile, the blood on Williams’ sweatshirt was Type B blood — which was the blood type for Williams and the two brothers. Qualls has a different blood type. The police criminalist testified that the blood may have been Williams’ own blood, and DNA testing was not done at the time.
Ultimately, Qualls was convicted of the double murder, as well as gun charges. He was sentenced to consecutive life sentences for the murders.
That first conviction in 1993 was reversed by the Supreme Judicial Court a few years later based on inadmissible hearsay statements during the trial. Then he was convicted again in the second trial in 1998.
More than 20 years later in 2019, Qualls’ mother reached out to the Boston College Innocence Program to help exonerate her son.
The BC program called on the Suffolk DA’s office to work with them on a Joint Motion for Post-Conviction Forensic Testing of Williams’ sweatshirt, and a judge allowed the blood testing. Those results showed that the drops of blood on Williams’ sweatshirt matched the DNA of murder victim Tony Price.
This convinced the Suffolk DA’s office that Qualls was not responsible for the double murder. His convictions were vacated, and he was released from prison in 2020. Later that year, then-Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins filed a nolle prosequi, dismissing the charges against Qualls related to the double homicide.
Qualls has since been seeking compensation for being locked up in prison for nearly three decades.
“This is a civil action against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts brought by Ronnie Qualls seeking relief from erroneous and wrongful felony convictions in 1993,” his Suffolk lawsuit reads. “The Plaintiff seeks compensation, money damages, services, and other relief… for erroneous felony convictions and the resulting unjust incarceration.”
His federal complaint is against members of the Boston Police Department and the City of Boston.
“The Defendants willfully ignored eyewitness testimony from the victim, willfully ignored blood evidence which exonerated the Plaintiff, and defendants badgered and intimidated witnesses into identifying the plaintiff when they initially stated that they could not make an identification,” reads the federal suit. “The defendants secured an indictment against the Plaintiff with false and misleading information.
“The defendant City of Boston implicitly tolerated unlawful police practices including suppression of exculpatory evidence and perjury by failing to investigate properly and punish adequately officers who withheld exculpatory evidence and gave false testimony,” the lawsuit states.
Earlier this week, Qualls was reportedly incoherent when officers arrived at the nursery school crash. As they tried to help him, Qualls “began exhibiting unusual behavior, attempting to divert the Officers’ attention while exiting the vehicle,” police said.
“Once outside, he appeared to be suffering from injuries related to the crash but continued to create distance between himself and the vehicle,” BPD added. “Due to his behavior, Officers suspected he might be armed and initiated an investigation.”
During their search, cops found a gun inside the vehicle’s center console. The weapon was later identified as a Republic Arms Patriot .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol, loaded with six rounds in the magazine and one round in the chamber.
Qualls was taken into custody, but was transported to a local hospital for evaluation of non-life-threatening injuries before the booking process began.
Before his arrival at the hospital, officers found four plastic bags from Qualls’ jacket, believed to contain crack cocaine and cocaine.
Also, a records check revealed that Qualls did not have a valid driver’s license.
Qualls was placed under arrest and charged with: unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a loaded firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, possession of Class A drugs (crack cocaine), and possession of Class B drugs (cocaine).
The people inside the nursery school at the time of the crash did not sustain injuries.