New Bedford Stabber Sentenced to State Prison
Bristol County District Attorney’s Office
Thomas M. Quinn III
District Attorney
Press Release
March 29, 2023
A 41-year-old New Bedford man, who stabbed a woman in the back last March shortly after being released from prison after serving two decades for a 2001 killing in New Bedford, was sentenced to serve up to seven years in state prison, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.
Robert Tirado pled guilty last Friday in Fall River Superior Court to an indictment charging him with Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon-Causing Serious Bodily Injury.
On March 8, 2022, the victim and the defendant’s girlfriend were drinking alcohol and horsing around while walking down Linden Street in New Bedford. At one point, the victim picked up her much larger friend an dropped her to the ground. The defendant happened to be driving down the street at the same time, jumped out of his car and stabbed the victim seven times in the back. The incident was captured on nearby surveillance video.
The victim was brought to St. Luke’s Hospital and was treated for a collapsed lung. After the incident, the defendant and his girlfriend absconded; leaving the woman’s three children–ranging in age from six to 13–alone. The state Department of Children and Families took custody of the children after they failed to go to school for several days. The defendant was on the run with his girlfriend until April 12, 2022 when the defendant was arrested in Rhode Island.
Despite the serious injuries she sustained, the victim in the case refused to cooperate with the prosecution.
During a sentencing hearing held before Judge Raffi Yessayan, Co-First Assistant District Attorney Karen O’Sullivan argued that based on the severity of the attack and the defendant’s previous Manslaughter conviction, he should be sentenced to serve 10 to 12 years in state prison. The defense requested a more lenient three to five year prison term. Judge Yessayan ended up sentencing the defendant to serve four to seven years in state prison.
“This is another instance of serious violence committed by this defendant. Unfortunately in this case, the victim would not cooperate. This defendant is clearly extremely violent and needs to be kept off the street,” District Attorney Quinn said.
The defendant was previously convicted on Manslaughter for the 2001 killing of George Carpenter in New Bedford and was sentenced to serve a 20-year state prison sentence. In that case, the defendant fought with Carpenter and punctured his tire, preventing him from leaving, and called others to help him during the early morning hours of Feb. 16, 2001. The defendant and his confederates kicked, stomped and struck the victim with a tire iron. The victim was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital and then transported to Boston Medical Center where he died. After initially being convicted of Second Degree Murder in 2003, the defendant filed a motion for new trial in 2016, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel. Tirado argued on appeal that he should have been granted a new trial because his defense attorney at trial did not object to the use of a substitute medical examiner. The motion was granted by Judge E. Susan Garsh. He was then re-tried in 2017 and convicted of Manslaughter.
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