Prosecutors Sought State Prison Term

BOSTON, May 9, 2012—A Mission Hill woman will serve at least a year behind bars for stabbing her former neighbor during a dispute sparked by a prior conflict over a parking space the victim had shoveled out, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Greene of Conley’s Major Felony Bureau recommended that CARMEN ANDINO (D.O.B. 10/30/71) serve two to three years in state prison for the 2010 incident, which sent a 24-year-old woman to the hospital with serious injuries to her face and the area under her left arm after she and the victim fought one another in the middle of McGreevey Way.

“It’s bad enough that a dispute over a parking space the victim shoveled out came to blows,” Conley said. “Escalating the situation by introducing a weapon just makes it that much worse.”

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Regina Quinlan sentenced Andino to two and a half years in a house of correction, ordering that the defendant serve one year up front with the balance suspended for two years. If Andino reoffends during that time, she could be ordered to serve out the remainder of her term.

Greene proved during two days of testimony last month that the defendant and victim lived on McGreevey Way during the winter of 2010 and had an earlier conflict over a parking space. In that incident, testimony established, the victim had shoveled out her borrowed car after a snowstorm, left for a period of time, and came back to find two children’s play tables filling the spot. She moved the tables and parked again in the space she had shoveled out.

Andino became very angry over this, threatening to slash the car’s tires if the woman didn’t move the car. The street had public parking and no reserved spaces.  Nonetheless, the victim defused the conflict by moving the car.

On Jan. 11, 2010, the victim heard her apartment buzzer ring, accompanied by loud banging on her door and yelling from the street. It was Andino again, summoning her outside.

The victim went downstairs, where it became clear that Andino wanted to fight. The two women became engaged in a physical altercation that went on until Andino was on the ground.

Evidence and testimony demonstrated that Andino got up from the ground and used a kitchen knife to slash at the victim’s face. As blood poured into her eye, the victim began to back away from Andino.

Greene proved that Andino continued toward the victim, slashing at her and cutting open a long slice beneath her left arm. A friend rushed the woman back into the house, from where she was later transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she spent two days after receiving 10 stables to close the wound.

Responding Boston Police obtained witness statements that Andino had tossed the knife into a nearby sewer grate. They were able to locate that grate and recover the knife, which when tested had blood containing the victim’s DNA.

Michael Coffey was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Andino was represented by attorney Craig Collins.

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