The Chelsea man who stabbed his roommate to death last year was sentenced to the maximum term for voluntary manslaughter today, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly imposed a term of 17 to 20 years in state prison on MARVIN RUANO GARCIA (D.O.B. 4/28/85) for the Jan. 5, 2010, slaying of 50-year-old Israel Vasquez in the Grove Street apartment they shared. Assistant District Attorney John Pappas had recommended a term of 19 to 20 years.

“Israel Vasquez suffered 10 stab wounds to his neck alone and the defendant didn’t get so much as a scratch,” Conley said. “Adding insult to horrible injury, that same defendant dumped the victim head first in a trash barrel and left him on the street like refuse. Mr. Vasquez deserved better. His family deserved better. I hope they can take satisfaction that some measure of justice has been done on their behalf.”

During about a week of testimony last month, Pappas proved that Garcia stabbed Vasquez more than two dozen times during an altercation inside 96 Grove St., then placed his body in a barrel and dragged it about a block to the sidewalk in front of 122-124 Grove St.

Chelsea Police were called to that location at about 7:00 a.m. and found a blood trail leading back to the apartment building where both men lived. With State Police assigned to Conley’s office, they soon identified, located, and interviewed Garcia, who gave conflicting accounts of the fatal encounter. He was taken into custody that evening.

Jurors deliberated for about four full days before convicting Garcia on April 19.

Vasquez’ 18-year-old son, Bhrayan Vasquez-Rojas, addressed the court prior to sentencing.

“It’s not right that he killed my father,” the young man said. “What he did was something very, very terrible. Now I have to do my father’s job and raise my little brother and explain to him why our father isn’t with us anymore …. I have all these memories of my father and I won’t ever see him again because of this man.”

Katherine Moran was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Attorney John Tardif represented the defendant.