31-year-old Fall River woman sentenced to prison for role in homicide of Jorge Vieira

A 31-year-old Fall River woman indicted earlier this year for her role in the January 2020 homicide of Fall River’s Jorge Vieira has been sentenced after pleading guilty.

According to court records, Jessica Brophy was sentenced to 3 years in prison on Monday.

Brophy was indicted by a Bristol County Grand Jury on January 26 on a charge of Accessory After the Fact and an arrest warrant was issued.

After being apprehended by Fall River Police in February, Brophy was first arraigned in Fall River Superior Court on the Accessory indictment and bail was set by Judge Sharon Donatelle at $5,000 cash.

Brophy was accused of disposing of the weapon used in the homicide, cleaning up evidence, hiding bloody clothes and assisting Nathan Silva elude capture for the fatal stabbing. Silva was convicted earlier this year of Voluntary Manslaughter and is currently serving a 13-to-16-year state prison sentence.

According to the DA’s Office at the time, after being arraigned in Superior Court in February, Brophy was then taken to Fall River District Court on a probation violation matter. In that case, Brophy was initially placed on three years probation in 2020 after being convicted of the obstruction of justice portion of the witness intimidation statute for misleading and obstructing the investigation into the stabbing homicide of Vieira. She was alleged to have violated the terms of her probation multiple times by not showing up to meet with her probation officer in person or by phone, failure to comply with substance abuse testing requirements and for failing to complete programs ordered by the court at the time of her probation sentence. Fall River District Court Judge Daniel Pino then held her without bail in February on her probation violation warrants.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Shawn Guilderson, who also coordinated the investigation into the Vieira homicide.