Man convicted of fatally stabbing another man trying to protect his girlfriend at Mass and Cass in 2021

A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted a man of first-degree murder for fatally stabbing Ricardo Garcia after Garcia tried to protect his girlfriend from the man and a couple of his pals in the Mass and Cass area on Aug. 8, 2021, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

The verdict means an automatic sentence of life without parole for Karonn Brown, 51, although the verdict will first be reviewed by the Supreme Judicial Court. His alleged pals, Derrell Sanford, 28, of Boston and Dravon Robinson, 38, of Everett, face trial on Jan. 8 for allegedly beating and stabbing Garcia, the DA's office reports.

The DA's office provided this account of what happened on the morning of Aug. 8 at Massachusetts Avenue and Peirson Street:

Brown, Sanford and Robinson were driving through Roxbury when they exited their vehicle and approached Garcia’s girlfriend. The three men had approached other women in the area. When Garcia ran over to defend his girlfriend, Brown and his co-defendants beat and stabbed him. Garcia was transported to a local hospital, where he died.

Garcia's death was one of four Mass and Cass stabbing murders in 2021.