A Massachusetts man is headed to prison for the fatal stabbing of his teenage girlfriend.
Nickolas Lacrosse, of Springfield, was sentenced to life without parole Thursday after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors say Lacrosse stabbed 17-year-old Kathryn Mauke 32 times in her own home in February 2015 because he was angry she had broken up with him.
Nickolas Lacrosse, of Springfield, was sentenced to life without parole Thursday after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder
Prosecutors say Lacrosse stabbed 17-year-old Kathryn Mauke 32 times in her own home in February 2015 because he was angry she had broken up with him
‘But 32 blows were necessary to end Kathryn’s life,’ Assistant District Attorney Mary Sandstrom said in her closing arguments, according to MassLive.com. ‘The defendant used a level of severity reserved only for cold-blooded murderers.’
‘He wanted her dead. He wanted to make sure of it,’ she said.
The now-23-year-old Lacrosse previously testified that he didn’t intend to kill Mauke but went to her home to get ‘clarification’ on the break-up.
Sandstrom said, ‘I would suggest he took just what he needed to murder Kathryn, to end the rejection that in his mind he never deserved. This defendant wasn’t going over there for closure, wasn’t going over there for clarification.’
She added that Mauke had been extremely clear when wanting to end the relationship and had made her feelings known for months.
Two defense experts – a neuropsychologist and a psychiatrist – had testified that Lacrosse didn’t have the ability to control his actions. They claimed that Lacrosse went into a dissociative state when he did the kiling.
‘But 32 blows were necessary to end Kathryn’s life,’ Assistant District Attorney Mary Sandstrom said in her closing arguments
‘The commonwealth would like you to believe that all of a sudden now he’s this cool calculated guy,’ defense attorney Alan J. Black said ‘Going over there with a knife to kill her.’
‘Is that a reasonable explanation or did he, quote, lose it?’
A lawyer for Lacrosse did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Members of a Hampden Superior Court jury found Lacrosse guilty Wednesday after a trial that lasted about three weeks.
Two defense experts – a neuropsychologist and a psychiatrist – had testified that Lacrosse didn’t have the ability to control his actions. They claimed that Lacrosse went into a dissociative state when he did the killing.