Taunton man convicted in murder, sentenced to life in prison with no parole in Fall River court

A 40-year-old Taunton man was convicted this week of the First Degree Murder of his father-in-law and was sentenced to serve life in prison with no possibility of parole, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Richard Carreiro-Forbes was convicted by a jury of his peers after a three-week long trial in Fall River Superior Court. The defendant had been convicted of the same charge in May 2015, but was granted a new trial due to a technicality regarding the contents of a plea agreement with a cooperating witness.

The defendant and his wife lived next door to the victim in a duplex. The victim deeded the home over to his daughter and gave himself a life estate. The home, which was in poor condition, had to be renovated in order for the defendant to get an insurance policy for it. Carreiro-Forbes and his wife spent approximately $50,000 to fix up their half of the home, but the victim would not allow anyone inside his home to do any improvements. The defendant and his wife lost the insurance on the home due to the victim’s side of the home being in such bad condition. After failed attempts to have the victim evicted, Carreiro-Forbes started to come up with a plan to kill the victim and recruited a friend to establish an alibi.

On the evening of August 17, 2010, Carreiro-Forbes shot the victim multiple times in the home and then stabbed him four times in the neck until he was dead.

The case was prosecuted by Co-First Assistant District Attorney Karen O’Sullivan and Assistant District Attorney Jeanne Veenstra. The state prison sentence was imposed by Judge Gregg Pasquale.

“This was a brutal and premeditated murder committed by the defendant against his father-in-law, motivated solely for personal gain. I want to thank the prosecutors and investigators for obtaining a conviction in this case for the second time. I’m also grateful to the family for their perseverance through a difficult ordeal. I appreciate the jury coming to the correct verdict and for their patience throughout the trial,” District Attorney Quinn said.