BOSTON, Aug. 5, 2013—A South Boston man was sentenced to life in prison today after his conviction in the beating death of 65-year-old Barbara Tagen, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

ADAM CASSINO (D.O.B. 5/9/86) of South Boston today received the mandatory sentence for first degree murder — life in prison with no possibility of parole — for the 2011 beating death of Tagen inside her home. 

A jury convicted Cassino of the charge on July 23 after Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum introduced evidence and testimony at trial to prove that Cassino used a metal baseball bat to viciously beat Tagen inside her Andrew Square apartment sometime between Tagen’s last contact with family members on Aug. 23, 2011, and Cassino’s involuntary commitment to a drug treatment facility on Aug. 24.

On Aug. 22, the evidence showed, Cassino was accused of stealing prescription pills from another resident of Tagen’s apartment building.  As a result, Cassino was thrown out of his own home and stayed at a friend’s apartment for two nights. Witnesses described his demeanor around this time as erratic and agitated and testified that Cassino was unaccounted for during periods of time on the afternoon of Aug. 23.

Boston Police took Cassino into custody on Aug. 24 after his mother petitioned the court to have him civilly committed, and he was taken to the Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center at Bridgewater State Hospital. Three days later, on Aug. 27, Tagen’s body was found with massive blunt force trauma injuries to her head. She had been dead for several days.

Boston Police homicide detectives interviewed Cassino, who claimed that Tagen had offered to sell him prescription pills but that he didn’t enter her apartment because he didn’t have any money.

Detectives interviewed Cassino and recovered the sneakers he was wearing at the time he checked into the treatment facility, which had traces of blood on the soles and tongue that proved to match Tagen’s DNA, testimony showed.

Detectives also recovered an aluminum baseball bat in the apartment where Cassino stayed on the nights of Aug. 22 and 23. Like his shoes, the bat carried traces of blood with a DNA match to Tagen.  In addition, the grip of the bat yielded “handler DNA” consistent with Cassino’s genetic profile, forensically linking him to both the murder victim and the murder weapon.

“This was an unconscionable act of violence – in both its brutality and its senselessness,” Conley said.  “The pain suffered by Barbara Tagen’s family is still raw, and even today’s sentencing cannot change that.  I can only hope that this family and the South Boston community can find some peace in knowing that her killer has been brought to justice.”

Prior to imposing the sentence, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Garry Inge heard victim impact statements delivered by Tagen’s grieving relatives.

“My beautiful daughters will never have the opportunity to share the things that granddaughters reserve only for their grandmothers, their Nonnie.  My sister and I will never be able to call on her for advice or share with her an important moment.  Our lives will never be the same,” Tagen’s son said in an impact statement.  “To know the excruciating pain and torture she suffered at the hands of this monster is inconceivable.  To know that I wasn’t there to protect her and shelter her from animalistic combat she faced is something I will always have to deal with.”

Katherine Moran was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Cassino was represented by attorney Lorenzo Perez.

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