East Boston man convicted in 2007 stabbing death

By Globe Staff

A 25-year-old East Boston man was convicted today of murdering another man in a fight in 2007 on a South End street.

Juan Figueroa was found guilty in Suffolk Superior Court of second-degree murder in the March 11, 2007, stabbing death of John Austin, 24, the Suffolk district attorney's office said.

Figueroa and his girlfriend, the mother of Austin's child, were picking up the boy after a scheduled visit when Figueroa told Austin that he should "be a better father," prosecutors said.

That comment started an argument that turned into a fight. Austin was stabbed four times in the head and face and a fifth time in the heart, which killed him, prosecutors said.

Figueroa will be sentenced at 11 a.m. Tuesday. He faces a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole in 15 years.

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