Ferdinand Saintville was killed outside Good Times Emporium in April 2007.  Three witnesses indicted for no-show By George P. Hassett Seconds after Ferdinand Saintville was murdered outside Good Times in April 2007, the killer and his friends immediately began a plot to evade authorities and hide the crime, according to prosecutors. In January, their plot may have worked when the confessed killer was sentenced to just five years in prison.

The effort to evade punishment for ending the life of Saintville, a self-taught mechanic and father of a seven year old son, would include an escape from a "massive manhunt," the intimidation of an elderly woman and sudden "memory loss" from key witnesses.

At the trial in January, three witnesses failed to appear in court, giving the accused killer an important advantage.

Prosecutors said last week they were forced to make a deal with Saintville's alleged killer, David Cole, 22, of East Boston, far short of the original first degree murder conviction and life sentence they sought.

After key witnesses were no-shows in court, Cole was sentenced to five years in state prison and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Last week prosecutors indicted Dennis Taylor, 30, of Boston, Jude Myrthil, 24, of Malden, and Roland Joseph, 27, of Boston, on one count each of failure to appear at Cole's trial.

"The three defendants time and time again attempted to evade the justice system, despite knowing their testimony was critical to proving the case against a murder defendant," Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone said in a statement. "This office takes such deliberate tampering with the pursuit of justice on behalf of a murder victim very seriously and we will charge anyone who intentionally interferes with our prosecution of a case."

According to a statement from the office, prosecutors were forced to agree to five years in prison for Cole after the witnesses did not appear.

Another witness, Shawn Jones, 26, of Boston, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail after he allegedly lied to a grand jury and told an elderly neighbor to lie too. The woman told prosecutors she was scared of Jones after she saw him in the lobby of her building on the day she was to appear in court.

Myrthil was Saintville's roommate and was driving the car Saintville was riding in when he was shot after leaving Good Times. Another man in the car complained to police of memory loss after giving consistent statements, court records show.

Cole fired one shot from a passing van into Saintville's car after Myrthil shouted insults out the window, according to court records.

"It was essentially a meet at Good Times random type of shooting," prosecutors said. "An eyeball and in your face kind of thing."

"Immediately they go into cover-up mode," said Assistant District Attorney Marian Ryan. "They know the clock is ticking."

Marquis Williams, the driver of the van, then drove Cole to the Bunker Hill Housing project in Charlestown to get rid of the gun, prosecutors said. Cole managed to escape what prosecutors called "a massive manhunt" in the projects and get a ride to North Station and then to Dorchester. He was not caught until seven months later.

Saintville was born and raised in the Jefferson Park housing projects in North Cambridge, and known as "Burdd" to friends. Friends described him as a polite young man trying to turn his life around after a string of minor arrests and getting shot once.