In murder appeal ruling, Massachusetts Supreme Court rules adultery can no longer be a viable excuse for homicide

The Massachusetts highest court this week ruled that adultery can no longer be an excuse for murder.

According to the court, on the evening of May 16, 2009, Peter Ronchi of Marblehead repeatedly stabbed his nine-month pregnant girlfriend, Yuliya Galperina of Salem, killing her and her fetus. Galperina had sustained at least fifteen stab wounds, including wounds to the back of her head, upper chest, and back. Her eight-year-old son and three-year-old daughter were in the apartment at the time of the killing.

At trial, there was no dispute that Ronchi had stabbed Galperina; the primary issue before the jury was whether the fatal stabbing was due to heat of passion to reduce Ronchi’s liability from murder to manslaughter.

The basis for the provocation, Ronchi argued, was Galperina stating that he was not the father of the baby.

A Superior Court jury convicted Ronchi of two counts of murder in the first degree.

In his appeal, Ronchi argued that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions of murder in the first degree, on the grounds that no rational juror could have found that the stabbings were not the result of heat of passion.

Ronchi also argued that he couldn’t be held liable for the death of the full-term fetus because he did not stab or injure the fetus, who died due to loss of maternal blood circulation.

The court ruled Tuesday that “allowing discovery of infidelity as adequate provocation implies that the victim, by committing adultery, is partly to blame for the defendant’s violence. It is time to retire the legal principle that spousal infidelity, even if it is a sudden discovery, entitles a defendant to an instruction on reasonable provocation for murder.”

Ronchi was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole.