Brockton Woman Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter Charge

BROCKTON, MA - A Brockton woman has pleaded guilty to a voluntary manslaughter charge in the stabbing death of her boyfriend just before a retrial.

Solange Anestal, 36, made the plea late Wednesday afternoon in Brockton Superior Court, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office. She was sentenced to 18-20 years in a state prison. After completing her jail sentence, she will be deported to Haiti, her country of origin.

The maximum sentence for the charge is 20 years in a state prison.

On June 26, 2003, police in Brockton received a 911 call for an emergency on Newbury Street. Upon arrival, police found Baby Petitry of Dorchester, unconscious on the floor bleeding from a wound in his neck and chest area. He was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital.

During an investigation, two friends at the scene reported an argument between Anestal and Petitry, which saw Petitry attempt to leave the apartment bedroom. Petitry was able to leave the room and hold the door closed. Witnesses convinced Petitry to let the door open, which he did, allowing Anestal to come through the door and stab Petitry with a large shard of broken glass.

In 2007, Anestal was convicted of first degree murder with the Supreme Judicial Court overturned the verdict and remanded the case for another trial in 2012. If the case had gone to trial, Anestal defense said that they would have argued that Anestal was a battered woman and a doctor would opine that due to Anestal’s intellectual disability, post-traumatic stress from her history of abuse, and postpartum depression, Anestal believed she was acting in self-defense.

This was a defense that was not presented at the first trial, according to the DA’s office.