Olivia Bergstrom.Photo: Facebook
A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty tothe Sept. 10, 2018, murder of his 20-year-old girlfriend— a killing he committed before attending a family party, where he stabbed his mother and father.
On Monday, the day jury selection was set to begin in his murder trial, Benjamin Walsh, 28, admitted to stabbing Olivia Bergstrom to death in the Needham apartment that they shared.
Afterward, Walsh drove to a family gathering at a restaurant in Millis, where he attacked “his parents while armed with a knife,” reads a statement from the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office.
Relatives then subdued Walsh and tied him up until police arrived.
Walsh, who was 24 at the time of the murder, will be parole eligible once he’s served 25 years.
Prosecutors agreed “to reduce the first-degree murder charge to second-degree murder with the support of the victim’s parents because the plea to second-degree murder ensures the safety of the community, avoids the challenges and stresses of a trial, acknowledges the defendant’s brutal acts and the twenty-five year minimum sentence prior to the possibility of parole is significant and substantial,” the statement notes.
Walsh’s parents were also consulted before the plea offer was approved.
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“This brings its own finality to the proceeding,” District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey said in a statement. “The outcome of a trial is never assured, and appeals procedures in murder cases span many years. I cannot imagine the pain of Olivia’s parents, and my thoughts are very much with them today.”
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
