Mass. court upholds conviction in wife's killing
BOSTON—The highest court in Massachusetts on Monday refused to overturn the conviction of a man found guilty of killing his wife three weeks after their wedding.
Euclides Ortiz was convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing 52-year-old Bernice Tejada to death in 2003. She had four knife wounds to her neck.
During his trial, Ortiz' lawyer said he had no motive to kill Tejada because their 3-week-old union was not a "true marriage." Ortiz had a girlfriend at the time of his wife's death.
Ortiz disappeared after his wife's body was found in their basement apartment in Boston's Roslindale neighborhood. Police later arrested him at a friend's home in Chelsea.
A friend of Ortiz testified that he told her he fought with his wife the night she was killed about the fact that another woman was carrying his child. She also said Ortiz said "what's done is done" when she asked him if he had killed his wife.
In his appeal, Ortiz argued that his conviction should be overturned because of several errors made during his trial, including during the prosecutor's closing argument and the judge's instruction to the jury.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled there is no basis to set aside or reduce the verdict.
