Coach receives death threat: Two teens charged with witness intimidation

Boston police say they are keeping close tabs on the head coach of Brighton High School’s baseball team after two teens allegedly threatened to execute him to stop his testimony against one of them, the Herald has learned.

The two Brighton High students, Brandon Smith, 18, of Dorchester and a 16-year-old Hyde Park juvenile, were arraigned Wednesday on charges of witness intimidation and threats to commit murder.

Coach William Mahoney, 65, awoke to an obscenity-laced cell phone message on April 18, warning him, “(Expletive) (expletive), come to the (expletive) basketball team (sic), you (expletive.) (Expletive) baseball team. You (expletive) white (expletive). Hope you die, white trash. I am going to shoot you in the head at the next basketball (sic) game . . . baseball game,” according to police and court records.

The nearly two-minute long diatribe was allegedly spewed by Smith. Mahoney, who also teaches, was being called as a witness against Smith on April 20 in Brighton District Court in an unrelated assault case.

Mahoney was warned he would be killed at the next game he coached, which happened to be Tuesday. Instead, Smith and the juvenile were arrested Tuesday after Boston police obtained an Emergency Telephone Record Release from Cingular. They then matched the number that placed the call to Mahoney’s cell to the juvenile’s mother’s home using an online white pages reverse lookup.

Both teens’ voices are audible on the threatening message, according to police.

Smith’s prior case stems from a Nov. 1, 2006, incident in which he is accused of attacking a Boston police officer questioning him about an assault on another youth by a group of males.

Officers allegedly found a knife in Smith’s coat pocket. He was arrested on charges of assault, unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest. It was unclear When reached by phone yesterday, Mahoney claimed to know nothing of the death threats. Approached at Rogers Park by a reporter prior to the Bengals’ game against West Roxbury, Mahoney walked away.

Brighton High Principal Kevin Foley, who attended the matchup along with at least one visible uniformed school police officer, declined to comment.

Smith, who was ordered held on $1,000 cash bail by Judge Mark Hart Summerville, faces up to 10 years in state prison if convicted of the witness intimidation charge alone. He remained at Nashua Street Jail last night.

Patrick Sheehan, who court documents list as Smith’s attorney, declined to comment.

The juvenile’s status was unavailable because of his age.

But Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley, said: “Witness intimidation is an extremely serious charge and one we pursue aggressively.”