Arthur Waters murdered Abushante Jennings, who was trying to save a kidnapping victim, prosecutors said. (Mug shot: Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni)
A man is set to spend the rest of his days in prison for kidnapping a woman and fatally shooting a man who tried to save her.
A staffer at the Hampden County Superior Court in Massachusetts confirmed to Law&Crime that Arthur Waters, 44, was sentenced on Tuesday to life without the possibility of parole. The local district attorney’s office identified the slain man as Abushante Jennings, 37.
Prosecutors announced that jurors convicted Waters on Wednesday for murder in the first degree, illegal possession of a firearm, kidnapping while armed with a firearm, assault by means of a dangerous weapon, two counts of assault and battery, and two counts of intimidation of a witness.
They said that the defendant beat, threatened, and kidnapped a woman in the city of Springfield on May 29, 2021.
“She was able to separate from the defendant and make a call in order to seek aid,” prosecutors wrote. “A short time later she was able to make it out of the residence she was in with the defendant. Once outside she saw a car belonging to her friend she had called and flagged her down. A friend of the driver got out of the car to assist the kidnapped victim, and he was approached by the defendant and shot multiple times.”
Cops responded to a shots fired call on Lionel Benoit Road. They found Jennings on Bertil Hammarlof Road. First responders rushed him over to Baystate Medical Center, where he soon died from his injuries, prosecutors said.
“I hope that this verdict brings some degree of justice to Mr. Jennings’s family,” Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni said. “I thank the detectives from the Springfield Police Department for their thoroughness in this investigation. I also thank my team, especially lead trial counsel, Assistant District Attorney Katharine Johnston, second chair Assistant District Attorney Carrie Kenniston, appellate counsel Assistant District Attorney Michael Locke, and Chief Victim Witness Advocate Jane Chevalier for all their hard work on this case.”
A court staffer confirmed to Law&Crime that this Arthur Waters is the same one sentenced on Dec. 6, 2016, for two counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony. In that case, he was romantically interested in a woman, but she did not return the feelings, according to authorities in a MassLive report at the time. Waters followed her and her male friends from a strip club to her apartment, and stabbed them, authorities said.
The judge in that case sentenced Waters to between three and five years in prison. Both the prosecution and defense cited issues with the woman supporting the state’s case, with prosecutors noting that she wasn’t cooperating.
The judge also reportedly extended Waters’ probation to 2022 for a 1999 guilty plea for intent to murder and other charges. After having a fistfight, the defendant left, soon purchased two guns and some ammunition at a friend’s home, and then returned to shoot the man who he fought. He also attacked a 13-year-old boy he thought should have helped him during the fistfight, a prosecutor reportedly said.
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