The Cape Cod Times reports that Christopher Fratantonio received the mandatory sentence of life without parole following his first-degree murder conviction Friday in the February 2017 killing of 35-year-old Mary Fratantonio inside their Barnstable home.

Victim: Mary ‘Molly’ Fratantino

Prosecutors say the couple’s 6-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son were at home at the time and the boy was in one of the photos.
The victim’s family says Christopher Fratantonio was controlling. He told police his wife was cruel, demanding and belittling.
His lawyer says her client has mental health issues and post-traumatic stress stemming from child sex abuse.

Christopher Fratantino  has the words ‘Love and hate ‘ tattooed on his hands

The trial of Christopher Fratantonio was filled with tales of marital acrimony, suspected infidelity, drug addiction and financial hardship. Social media posts and communications in the moments after Fratantonio’s wife was killed also were a dominant theme as six witnesses were called in Barnstable Superior Court.
Fratantonio, 37, who is charged with murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, allegedly stabbed his wife, Mary “Molly” Fratantonio, early on Feb. 28, 2017, at their home. Fratantonio, 37, was charged with murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for repeatedly stabbing his wife, Mary “Molly” Fratantono early on Feb. 28, 2017, as she lay in bed at their Trout Brook Road home in Cotuit.

Victim’s mother, Joan Kilbourne, is comforted after reading her impact statement

Family members of Mary “Molly” Fratantonio, a 35-year-old special education teacher at Barnstable High School, huddled in a front bench in the courtroom. They stood for the reading of the verdict, but her mother, Joan Kilbourne, collapsed back onto the bench sobbing as it was read.|
Fratantonio did not testify at the trial.
In his closing argument, Trudeau told jurors that “whether a mental condition was there, there was still the ability for that purposeful act to kill and deliberately premeditate.”
Defense attorney Colleen Duarte argued her client suffered from lingering post-traumatic stress stemming from sexual abuse as a child, the effects of two concussions, a dependence disorder that was focused on his wife, as well as anxiety and depression.
Duarte cited comments Fratantonio made to police shortly after the killing in which he said, “I wasn’t even going to do it; I didn’t want to do it. I’d rather I had done it to myself.”