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SJC Affirms Conviction of Man Sentenced to Life in State Prison for Fatal Stabbing in Marshfield



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Beth Stone (508) 584-8120

BROCKTON – Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz has announced that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court today affirmed the First Degree Murder conviction of Marcelo Almeida for the stabbing death of his former girlfriend.

On October 14, 2015, Marcelo Almeida, now 47-years-old, was found guilty in Brockton Superior Court of Murder in the First Degree by means of Deliberate Premeditation and Extreme Atrocity and Cruelty in the brutal, stabbing death of 24-year-old Patricia Fernanda Teixera Frois.

At approximately 8:01 a.m. on September 26, 2011, Marshfield Police received several 911 calls that a woman was being stabbed at the Fox Run Apartments. Upon arrival, they found Frois lying on the floor suffering from several stab wounds to her neck and body and a knife located nearby. Frois was treated at the scene and transported to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy confirmed that she had been stabbed 11 times in the neck, torso and head.

Almeida fled the scene with a second knife. State Police and Marshfield Police conducted a massive search for Almeida, before he was located in a nearby wooded area hiding in a shed. Almeida was suffering from non-fatal, self-inflicted injuries.

The investigation found that Frois and Almeida were in a relationship and lived together before Frois made many attempts to sever their relationship. Evidence elicited at trial showed that Almeida was waiting outside the victim’s door and attacked her with a large kitchen knife as she left for work that morning.

The SJC held that the trial judge properly allowed the Commonwealth to introduce evidence about a prior incident involving the defendant and the victim where it was probative of their relationship, and of the defendant’s state of mind, intent, and premeditation. Additionally, the SJC held that there were no errors by the prosecutor in the closing argument or by the judge in his instructions to the jury.

DA Cruz is pleased that the SJC affirmed Almeida’s murder conviction.

“This was a particularly gruesome and senseless crime, and a family was broken by the loss of their sister and daughter,” DA Cruz said. “Today’s SJC decision will hopefully reinforce the fact that justice was done for the family of Patricia Frois and that family can now find some peace.”

Assistant District Attorneys Sharon Donatelle and Brian Fahy prosecuted the case and Assistant District Attorney Audrey Anderson handled the case on appeal.

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MAY 17, 2018