Cara Rintala found guilty of manslaughter for killing wife

NORTHAMPTON — After deliberating for 16 hours over three days, a Hampshire Superior Court jury found Cara Rintala guilty last Thursday of voluntary manslaughter in the 2010 slaying of her wife, Annamarie Cochrane Rintala.

An emotional Rintala was led from the courtroom in handcuffs on Oct. 5 after Judge Francis Flannery revoked her bail, as requested by First Assistant District Attorney Steve Gagne.

Voluntary manslaughter is considered a lesser-included offense of first-degree murder, according to the district attorney’s office. The essential difference between the two charges is that first-degree murder requires a specific intent to kill with either deliberate premeditation or extreme atrocity or cruelty, whereas voluntary manslaughter is an unplanned killing that takes place in the heat of passion or during sudden combat.

Sentencing was set for Oct. 19. Gagne, noting the maximum penalty is 20 years in prison, said he would consult with Cochrane Rintala’s family on an appropriate recommendation.

Outside court, Gagne, who along with Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Suhl has prosecuted all four of Rintala’s murder trials, said getting to a verdict was a good outcome. Her first two trials ended in hung juries.

“We’re pleased that a jury once again found that Cara Rintala took Annamarie Rintala’s life,” he said.

As jurors did at Rintala’s third trial in 2016, the jury had the option of finding her not guilty or guilty of first- or second-degree murder or manslaughter. The jury in 2016 convicted her of first-degree murder and she was sentenced to life without parole, spending five years in prison before the guilty verdict was overturned by the Supreme Judicial Court.

Gagne said the fact that Rintala has spent a total of approximately 7½ years in prison already would play into the commonwealth’s sentencing recommendation. Prosecutors will be guided also by the wishes of Annamarie’s mother, Lucy Cochrane, who has been present throughout the trial, and other members of her family, he said.

Defense attorney Rosemary Scapicchio said she and her team will appeal the verdict after Rintala is sentenced.

“We’re disappointed,” she said. “We were confident that the jury would find reasonable doubt. But we’re not done fighting.”

In court, Scapicchio argued against the revocation of her client’s bail, saying she had always appeared for court dates.

“She’s upset,” she said later of Rintala. “She’s upset at being separated from her daughter again.”

Brianna, who was adopted as a baby in 2007 by Cara and Annamarie Rintala, is now 16. She has been living with her mother in Narragansett, Rhode Island, since 2021, and had lived there with family previously while her mother was imprisoned.

Up to a dozen of Rintala’s family members and other supporters were a constant presence in court during the three-week trial and the week of deliberations. They declined comment outside court.

The jury’s deliberations were derailed at the beginning of the week when Flannery dismissed three jurors and ordered the reconstituted 12-member panel to start considering the evidence afresh.

Flannery addressed the jury on Oct. 5 after the foreperson announced the verdict.

“On behalf of the court, thank you for the significant amount of time and attention you’ve given to this matter,” he said.

Monthlong process

After jury selection took up a full week, testimony in the trial began Sept. 13 and concluded after nine days, with closing arguments on Sept. 27. Jurors deliberated for some 16 hours last week before a problem was brought to the judge’s attention.

Gagne said the issue concerned some information that had got into the jury room, as a result of which the judge had to determine, through individual questioning with the attorneys present, which jurors could remain fair and impartial.

Rintala was accused of strangling and beating her wife to death at their Granby home on March 29, 2010.

Prosecutors emphasized the troubled nature of the Rintalas’ marriage and tried to show that Cara had lied about when she last spoke to Annamarie and had contaminated the crime scene by dumping a bucket of paint over the body. They said she was the only one with the means, motive and opportunity to commit the crime.

The defense argued that investigators had zeroed in too quickly on Cara as the perpetrator and excluded other equally plausible suspects.

Prosecutors called 20 witnesses to help make their case, while the defense called just two. Rintala did not testify in her own defense.

Rintala is being held at the Western Mass. Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee pending sentencing.