Johnathan Walker:Massachusetts driver gets life sentence in death of Black man killed in road rage incident

A Massachusetts man convicted of killing a Black man after a racist road rage encounter in 2021 was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

Dean Kapsalis, of Hudson, was found guilty by a jury last May of racially motivated murder. He was convicted on charges of murder in the second degree, violation of constitutional rights and other offenses in the killing of Henry Tapia. Investigators said Kapsalis and Tapia had gotten into an argument on Jan. 19, 2021, and witnesses recalled that, as the argument wound down, Kapsalis shouted a racial slur and then hit Tapia with his pickup truck as he drove off. Tapia died at a hospital, prosecutors said.

"We should make no mistake — this was a racially motivated, senseless tragedy. What is significant about today's verdict is that in Middlesex County when we have violent incidents hate and bigotry, those will not be seen as just background facts," said Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan in a statement after the verdict last May, CBS Boston reported at the time. "We will charge those separately, prosecute that charge separately, and seek accountability for that piece of what happened."

"The fact that some of the last words Henry Tapia heard were a horrific racial insult meant to intimidate and threaten him based on the color of his skin is something we cannot tolerate," Ryan said.

Judge David A. Deakin, according to The Boston Globe, called the sentence Wednesday proportional to the crime. While he took into account the support Kapsalis received from friends and family, he told Kapsalis "your record reflects essentially a lifelong tendency toward violence."

Deakin also addressed relatives of Tapia, who left behind a fiancee and children.

"I am well aware that no sentence can give them what they most want, which is to have Mr. Tapia back," Deakin said. "If I could, I wouldn't do anything other than that."

Kapsalis argued at trial that Tapia's death was an accident. His sentencing was delayed by his unsuccessful attempt to reduce his conviction to manslaughter.

In:
• Massachusetts
• Homicide
• Crime
• Racism