Stiff Sentence For Man Convicted In Fatal Parking Lot Dispute
SALEM, Mass. (AP) — A Chelsea man convicted of fatally beating another man in a dispute over a parking space has been sentenced to nine to 13 years in prison.
Twenty-five-year-old Fernando Aristy was sentenced Friday in Salem Superior Court for the slaying of 34-year-old Chad McDonald of Peabody.
Prosecutors said Aristy hit McDonald several times in the head with a wooden board outside a Lynn warehouse in October 2010. Aristy's vehicle was reportedly blocking the doorway to a business where McDonald worked. Aristy's attorney said he acted in self-defense.
Prosecutors had charged Aristy with first-degree murder, and asked for a sentence of at least 18 years after the jury convicted him of the lesser manslaughter charge.
Essex Assistant District Attorney Maureen Wilson Leal said Aristy's crime was "barbaric," and McDonald's family also gave statements to the judge.
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