BOSTON, June 7, 2017— Moments before her jury trial was set to begin, a Dorchester woman pleaded guilty in the stabbing death of her boyfriend, 28-year-old Anthony Sinclair, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury had been seated and was slated to hear opening arguments this morning in the trial of VALERIE CIRILO-PEREZ (D.O.B. 11/18/90) on a second-degree murder charge. Rather than have a jury determine her fate, however, Cirilo-Perez instead chose to plead guilty and admitted to manslaughter in Sinclair’s 2015 stabbing death.  At the recommendation of Assistant District Attorney David Bradley of the DA’s Homicide Unit, Judge Kenneth Fishman sentenced Cirilo-Perez to nine to 14 years in state prison.

Had the trial proceeded, Bradley would have presented evidence and testimony to prove that Cirilo-Perez and Sinclair were involved in a romantic relationship that was marked by prior incidents of domestic violence allegedly committed by both individuals, including an incident in which Cirilo-Perez stabbed Sinclair in the back.  On Dec. 8, 2015, Sinclair and Cirilo-Perez – who was pregnant and outweighed the victim by more than 100 pounds – were involved in a verbal argument that escalated into a physical altercation during which Cirilo-Perez stabbed the victim with a small kitchen knife, piercing his heart.

Sinclair was transported to Boston Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.

Cirilo-Perez called 911 and was inside the apartment when first responders arrived.  She made mutually inconsistent statements to investigators on the events leading up to the stabbing, prosecutors said, including a claim that Sinclair had come home drunk, which was refuted by toxicology testing performed as part of the autopsy that showed no alcohol in his system at the time of his death.

The victims of any crime, including domestic violence, should call 911 in an emergency. SafeLink, a statewide DV hotline, can be reached at 877-785-2020. SafeLink is answered by trained advocates 24 hours a day in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, as well as TTY at 877-521-2601. It also has the capacity to provide multilingual translation in more than 140 languages.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Sears of the DA’s Appellate Unit served as second-seat.  Elise McConnell was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  Cirilo-Perez was represented by Christopher Belezos.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.