BOSTON, December 13, 2016—A Revere man has been convicted of fatally stabbing 50-year-old John Barrientos in his East Boston building and dragging his body into a nearby alley, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

A jury this afternoon found CRISTIAN SANTA (D.O.B. 10/10/91) of Revere guilty of voluntary manslaughter in Barrientos’ 2012 stabbing death.  He had initially been charged with first-degree murder.

Santa faces up to 20 years in state prison at a sentencing hearing Friday morning.

Over the course of a three-week trial, Assistant District Attorney Craig Iannini of the DA’s Homicide Unit presented evidence and testimony to prove that Barrientos’ body was discovered in an alley near 220 Chelsea St. in East Boston on the morning of May 4, 2012.  He had suffered blunt force trauma and stab wounds.  Boston Police responding to the scene observed a trail of blood leading to the building’s basement, where prosecutors proved that Barrientos was killed.

Iannini introduced evidence that Santa and Barrientos had been drinking together at the Chelsea building where the victim lived on the night of May 3 and into May 4.  Witnesses reported hearing screams and “thudding” sounds at about 5:00 a.m. that morning.

Santa called an acquaintance for a ride to his Revere home around 6:00 that morning.  Upon observing the large amount of blood on Santa’s clothing, the man offered to drive him to a hospital, but Santa refused.  Santa left blood behind in the man’s vehicle; DNA testing matched the blood in the car as well as blood stains on evidence collected from Santa’s Shirley Street home to that of the victim.

A search warrant executed inside the Chelsea Street basement revealed fingerprints left in the blood; four of these bloody fingerprints were matched to the defendant.

Assistant District Attorney Zachary Hillman second-chaired at trial.  Elise McConnell was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  Santa was represented by Peter Marano.  He faces sentencing before Judge Christine Roach on Friday.

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