A 21-year-old Haverhill man, found guilty last month of second-degree murder at Haverhill Stadium, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison with parole after 19 years.
Oscar Quinones, formerly of 22 Sunrise Drive, Bradford, was convicted in the slaying of 19-year-old Efrain Maisonet, also of Haverhill, April 7, 2020 in a parking lot behind Haverhill Stadium.
Essex County Assistant District Attorney Erin Bellavia told jurors Quinones met Maisonet to fight after Quinones “felt disrespected” because Maisonet, known by his nickname “Nene,” was seeing his former girlfriend.
As WHAV reported at the time, Maisonet’s girlfriend and another 19-year-old woman both said Quinones exited a car and began hitting the other teen “in the chest in a downward motion.” It wasn’t until Quinones withdrew that the women noticed a knife and Maisonet exclaimed he had been stabbed. The girlfriend told Haverhill Patrolman William Mears, “the knife was big and looked like a fishing knife.” She and other witnesses said Quinones then got back in the car and sped off. The two women, accompanied by another 18-year-old man and his female friend rushed the bleeding teen to Holy Family Hospital across the street. Maisonet was later airlifted to Boston where he died.
Quinones was arrested hours later near Harbor Place, downtown.
The case was heard before Judge Kathleen McCarthy-Neyman.