“She cheated on me” is no longer a reasonable defense for husbands and boyfriends who are accused of murdering their wives and girlfriends in the Bay State, according to a recent ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court.
The top court in Massachusetts rejected its precedent for this argument in certain cases, as justices ruled that the murder defense based on cheating has a “shaky, misogynistic foundation and has no place in our modern jurisprudence.”
The SJC was ruling on an appeal involving a man who was convicted of first-degree murder for killing his 9-months pregnant girlfriend in Salem after she had told him he was not the father of her baby. Peter Ronchi in May 2009 repeatedly stabbed his girlfriend, Yuliya Galperina, killing her and her viable fetus.
