Revere man guilty of fatal stabbing in East Boston

A Revere man was convicted Tuesday in thebrutal stabbing death of an East Boston man in 2012.

Cristian Santa of Revere was just 21 years old in 2012 when he killed his friend,50-year-old John Barrientos, in the basement of hisEast Boston homeand draggedhis body into a nearby alley, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

A jury found Santa, now 25, guilty of voluntary manslaughter in Barrientos’ stabbing death.Santahad initially been charged with first-degree murder.

During thethree-week trial, the district attorney’s office presented evidence linking Santa to the body and the crime scene.

Police found Barrientos’ body in a Chelsea Street ally on May 4, 2012. Investigators followed a trail of blood to the building’s basement, where prosecutors say Barrientos was killed.

Prosecutorssaid Santa and Barrientos had been drinking together late into the night.Witnesses reported hearing screams and “thudding” sounds at about 5 a.m. on the day of the stabbing.

Santa’s clothes were covered in blood and police were able to collect DNA evidence from his home and a car he rode in immediately after the killing. The DNA linked Santa to the killing.

Santa faces up to 20 years in state prison.