Man gets 15 years in prison for ‘horrific’ Mass and Cass stabbing

At least one miserable Mass and Cass story came to a close Wednesday when a Boston man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the 2021 stabbing death of 33-year-old Richard Ghiozzi.

David Robinson, 52, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Suffolk Superior Court. Judge Mary Ames sentenced him to 15 years in state prison.

“I lost my beautiful first-born son on January 04, 2021, the day that turned our lives upside down forever,” the victim’s mother, Janet Ghiozzi, wrote in a victim impact statement read in court by prosecutor David Bradley. She wrote that she and the family chose not to be present at the sentencing because they could not bear to revisit the pain of the tragedy.

“David Robinson, you did not just take Richie’s life that day, you took everything from us. Our family, sense of security, laughs and potential,” the statement continued. “It’s so hard to find words impactful enough to describe the devastation you have caused on my entire family.”

Prosecutors say that on Jan. 4, 2021, Robinson and another man, Robert Jamison, attacked Ghiozzi with knives at the fire department station off Southampton Street, near the epicenter of what was once a tent city of addiction and violence near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. It didn’t take long after the tents were dismantled there for the trouble to rear back and evolve.

Prosecutors allege that after Robinson stabbed Ghiozzi in what would turn out to be fatal wounds, Jamison then stomped on Ghiozzi’s head. Jamison’s case is ongoing with the next hearing date scheduled for Nov. 5.

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“The horrific, unbearable pain and terror my son Richie must have felt the day you took his life is a thought that never leaves me and will haunt me forever,” Janet Ghiozzi’s statement continued.

“There is no amount of time served that could ever be enough for taking away my son’s life and breaking my family. No parent or sibling should ever have to live the nightmare we have been living since Richie was murdered. My family and our community would be safer in my opinion if David Robinson remains off the streets,” Janet Ghiozzi wrote.

Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden called Janet Ghiozzi’s statement “heartbreaking” and added, “While the cases against defendants may conclude, the loss felt by survivors is eternal.”

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