BOSTON, Oct. 27, 2014—A Chelsea man will spend up to 15 years in prison for fatally shooting 35-year-old Christopher Powell during a drug deal gone bad, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

MIGUEL FANTAUZZI (D.O.B. 7/89) was convicted Oct. 14 of voluntary manslaughter and unlawful possession of a firearm for Powell’s 2012 slaying.  At his sentencing hearing today, Assistant District Attorney Amy Galatis of the DA’s Homicide Unit requested a sentence of 17 to 20 years, and relatives of Powell implored the court to impose the maximum, a 20-year term. Judge Christine Roach imposed a prison term of 12 to 15 years for the conviction of manslaughter and a concurrent sentence of three to five years for unlawfully possessing the firearm used to kill the Dedham man. 

Prior to imposing the sentence, Roach heard from Powell’s father, who recalled his son as the doting father and caretaker of a young daughter who will turn 5 in December.

“We had Chris for 35 years; she had him for 35 months,” he said. “The smallest victim in this story will pay the highest price: a life without her ‘Dada.’”

Galatis, with Assistant District Attorney Nicole Cordeiro, proved at trial that Fantauzzi shot Powell inside a vehicle on Clark Avenue in Chelsea on the evening of Oct. 27, 2012, after Powell and another man arranged to meet Fantauzzi to purchase drugs but instead attempted to rob Fantauzzi.  Powell was armed with a stun gun but there was no evidence that Fantauzzi was struck by the non-lethal weapon; the second man was carrying a knife.  Fantauzzi, however, was armed with a firearm and shot Powell repeatedly, striking him in the arm, torso, and lower body.

Powell was transported to Whideden Memorial Hospital but died of his wounds. The second man was also struck but received only minor injuries.

Chelsea Police detectives and State Police assigned to Conley’s office learned of the intended drug deal and Fantauzzi’s role amid their investigation. Fantauzzi was arrested on unrelated warrants in December 2012 and indicted for second-degree murder in March 2013.

Timothy Munzert was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  Fantauzzi was represented by attorney Lefteris Travayiakis.

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