Guilty: Jury finds Fall River man killed his friend with a hammer blow to the head

FALL RIVER — After more than 10 hours of deliberations, a jury convicted a city man of second-degree murder on Monday for the fatal hammer attack of a childhood friend at a Rock Street rooming house in October 2018. 

Adam J. Levesque, 42, was convicted after an eight-day trial in the death of Lance Correia, who was 39 at the time of the attack. 

Correia died of blunt-force head trauma. After the Oct. 9, 2018, attack, Correia was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital, where his family eventually took him off life support. He died a month later at a nursing facility. 

Levesque’s co-defendant, Jaimeson Silvia, was acquitted of Correia’s murder last  

December. Unlike in the Levesque case, the jury had the option of finding Silvia guilty of manslaughter. Levesque's defense attorney, Sam Sutter, attempted to have manslaughter introduced in his case, but Superior Court Judge William White Jr. declined to include it in the charges. 

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A third defendant connected to the fatal assault, Shannon Smith, was also charged, but her charges were dropped when she agreed to cooperate as a witness against Silvia and Levesque. 

The attack occurred in Smith's room, located above Walsh's Pharmacy at Rock and Pine streets. At the time, Levesque and Smith were romantically involved. 

Bristol County District Attorney Tom Quinn released a written statement after the verdict: “I’m very pleased the jury held the defendant accountable for this brutal and senseless killing of his friend, which appeared to be over drugs,” Quinn said. “The defendant has a history of committing violent crimes and we look forward to this sentencing in this case.”  

Sutter declined to comment at this point. 

“I don’t think it will be appropriate for me to say anything until after the sentencing on Sept. 7,” said Sutter. 

A second-degree murder conviction means life in prison, with the possibility for parole after a number of years set by the judge at sentencing. 

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What happened on the night of Correia's murder

While Silvia did not take the stand, Smith was the prime witness for Assistant District Attorneys Michael Cahillane and Daniel Walsh. 

Smith, who appeared distressed on the stand, was at times unintelligible during her testimony. 

Smith testified that on the night of the attack in her room, she, Levesque and Correia had been shooting heroin. 

She said Levesque had purchased $2,000 worth of heroin that night, when the drugs went missing. Smith said Levesque became enraged and ransacked the room. 

“He said he knew his two best friends wouldn’t take nothing from him,” said Smith. 

Levesque’s anger escalated for two hours, Smith testified, and “he just kept repeating to put it back.” 

At one point, Smith testified, Levesque called Silvia, who arrived at Smith’s room while Levesque was accusing them of stealing the drugs. 

Later, Levesque, who is seen in a security camera video carrying a hammer into the rooming house earlier in the evening, struck Correia with one blow to the head. 

Smith testified that she heard a “thump,” and Correia was on the floor and bleeding heavily from the head. She said she looked at Levesque. 

“He had a hammer,” said Smith. 

Cahillane asked Smith if Levesque said anything to her.  

“You could get it (the hammer) too [expletive] and that we had to go,” said Smith.  

The bloody aftermath, and an escape to New York

Videos show the three fleeing the rooming house frantically and calling 911. A few minutes later, Correia can be seen on video walking from the room, then out of camera range behind an open door. 

Prosecutors showed the jury photographs of a bloody scene inside the room, and smears of blood and spatter on another apartment door. 

At one point, Cahillane presented photographs of Correia after the police and EMTs responded to the scene, with an injury to the right side of his head and his eye swollen shut. 

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A Fall River EMT testified that they feared Correia might be overdosing and was combative, and they gave him a shot of Narcan, and he also suffered a seizure.  

Levesque and Smith fled the scene in a motor scooter with Correia’s backpack, later taking a bus to New York City, she testified. 

Smith said the pair stayed in hotels and slept on the train for two weeks. The pair was detained eventually and picked up by Massachusetts State Police. 

Editor's note: This story has been corrected from its original version.   

Jo C. Goode may be reached at jgoode@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism and subscribe to The Herald News today!