Massachusetts man sentenced to life in prison for brutal slaying of girlfriend, – Nickolas Lacrosse, stabbed 17-year-old Kathryn Mauke 32 times in her own home, he’d gone there for ‘clarification’ for their breakup he said
Nickolas Lacrosse of Springfield, Massachusetetts sentenced to life in prison for brutal slaying of girlfriend, 17, who he stabbed with knife 32 times as she fought for her life, on Feb 25, 2015
Lacrosse, 23, said his actions were not vindictive, rather he had gone to her house for ‘clarification’ for their breakup
Lacrosse, of Springfield, was sentenced to life without parole Thursday after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder
The jury disbelieved the defense argument that Lacrosse went into a ‘dissociative state’ when he killed a woman who rejected him, and 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
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
Nickolas Lacrosse will spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was sentenced to life without parole Thursday. The jury found him guilty of first-degree murder
A 23-year-old man Thursday was sentenced to spend the rest of his natural life in prison for the fatal stabbing of his teenage girlfriend, three years ago.
Nickolas Lacrosse, of Springfield, Massachusetts 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, killing the teen. He was angry she had broken up with him and he had gone to the home to ‘get clarification on why she broke off the relationship’.
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
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.
The prosecution however argued that Lacrosse stabbed 17-year-old Kathryn Mauke so many times not just 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 told the court, 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,’ ADA Sandstrom said in her closing arguments,
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Defence called up two defense experts who testified that Lacrosse [left] didn’t have the ability to control his actions when he went into the stabbing frenzy against Kathryn Mauke [right], after she broke up with him
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.
Nicholas Lacrosse [left], slipped into stabbed 17-year-old Kathryn Mauke’s home and stabbed her 32 times on Feb 2015 because ‘he was angry she had broken up with him’
The jury disbelieved the defense argument that Lacrosse went into a ‘dissociative state’ when he killed a woman who rejected him, and found him guilty of first-degree murder
Both ‘experts’ had claimed that Lacrosse went into a dissociative state when he did the killing. Lacrosse himself testified Friday that he didn’t go to Mauke’s house on Feb. 11, 2015, to kill her. He said repeatedly he went for “clarification” of why she broke up with him. both of his expert witnesses testified that the defendant at the time didn’t have the ability to control his actions and is not criminally responsible for the killing.
Countering the prosecution theory, the defense challenged the allegation of premeditation in the killing – ‘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?’
At closing Sandstrom told jurors to believe the psychiatrist she called to the witness stand, who said Lacrosse did not murder Mauke in a dissociative state but took the actions deliberately.
The ADA detailed the injuries to Mauke that showed she struggled, stood in her own blood, and moved after she was on the floor lying in blood. The details show Mauke was killed with extreme atrocity and cruelty, one theory available to the jury to convict Lacrosse of first-degree murder, she said. As Sandstrom talked about the final moments of Mauke’s life, her family members cried and held hands.
In the end members of a Hampden Superior Court jury found Lacrosse guilty Wednesday after a trial that lasted about three weeks.
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