A Dorchester man was convicted of first-degree murder today for stabbing 38-year-old Luz Forty to death just hours after a Valentines Day dinner they shared with Forty’s mother, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

MARIO GONZALEZ (D.O.B. 7/28/79) faces a mandatory life term without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced at 10:00 Thursday morning, Conley said. A Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted Gonzalez under the theory of extreme atrocity or cruelty.

“This case was a reminder to all of us that domestic violence is found in relationships across every demographic,” Conley said. “No matter who you are or where you’re from, you don’t have to suffer in an abusive partnership. There are people ready to help you leave safely.”

Victims of intimate partner violence should call 911 in an emergency. SafeLink, a statewide domestic violence hotline, can be reached at 877-785-2020.

During four days of testimony, Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum – a former domestic violence prosecutor now assigned to the DA’s Homicide Unit – proved that Gonzalez, Forty, and her mother went to a Dorchester bar in celebration of Valentine’s Day 2009. At about 1:00 a.m., the trio called a car service to drive them home, first dropping off the victim’s mother, then the couple, who shared a Ridgewood Street apartment.

When Forty got home, she called her mother, as she often did, to let her know she had arrived safely. It was shortly after this phone call that the violence began.

Forty sustained up to 11 separate stab wounds to her body, including wounds to her back, left chest, shoulder, and hands. Some of the stab wounds were four inches deep, and pierced her lungs and spleen.

The defendant himself called 911 following the stabbing, while the victim lay in a bed bleeding and struggling to breathe, but still alive.

Polumbaum proved that Gonzalez first told a police dispatcher that he had been out drinking, and that he found Forty stabbed and bleeding in the apartment when he got home.

When emergency medical technicians and Boston Police officers arrived on the scene, they found Gonzalez in the apartment with a cut on his nose and a swollen lip, and Forty in the bedroom, dying.

When EMTs rushed her into an ambulance, he did not ask which hospital they were taking her to.

While in the ambulance, one of the paramedics treating her asked whether it was her “husband” who had done this to her – the term she used to refer to Gonzalez. She responded in the affirmative.

When asked again who did this to her, Forty said “husband” in English.

The paramedic relayed this information to a Boston Police officer on the scene, and Gonzalez was taken into custody. In a post-Miranda statement to a Spanish-speaking Boston Police officer, Gonzalez then told a different story of what had happened. He claimed that Forty had hit him with a bottle first, and had attacked him with a knife, which he then twisted around and used to stab her multiple times. Gonzalez also claimed that he apologized, helped her into bed, and called 911 immediately after the stabbing.

Gonzalez also made a recorded phone call to a friend from the C-11 booking desk. In that phone call, Gonzalez indicated that he had stabbed Forty in the apartment.

Despite the extensive efforts of emergency room doctors to save her life, Forty died within hours.

Katherine Moran was the victim-witness advocate assigned to the case. Defense attorney Willie Davis represented the defendant. Judge Geraldine Hines presided over the trial and will sentence Gonzalez next week.