Marshfield murder trial: Wife couldn't get over husband's affair, prosecutor says

PLYMOUTH − Opening statements were made Thursday in the murder trial of Christine Ricci , the Marshfield woman accused of stabbing her husband, Michael Ricci, to death at their home in early 2021.

After the jury was given instructions by Plymouth Superior Court Judge Diane Freniere, Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham addressed the jury of nine men and seven women, four of whom will be designated as alternate jurors. She told them that Christine Ricci had been unable to get over an affair her husband had in 2018.

She said Christine Ricci continued to needle her husband over his actions even after the couple decided to work on themselves and the marriage, going so far as to reconfirm their vows in a 2019 ceremony.

"It was like a pot of water on a stove," Buckingham said. "She turned up the heat by bringing up the affair over and over."

She told jurors they would hear from relatives, friends and Michael Ricci's co-workers from the Boston Fire Department, all of whom would testify to hearing about fights and seeing him with black eyes, a fat lip, scratches and even a broken nose in the years since the affair.

Prosecutors hope to use that testimony to prove a pattern of abuse on Christine Ricci's part that culminated with Michael Ricci receiving a fatal stab wound to the chest, along with a less severe stab wound near one shoulder and a long scratch along his back.

Christine Ricci is charged with first-degree murder and assault with a dangerous weapon.

"Listen carefully and keep an open mind," Buckingham said to the jury.

Ricci's lawyer: Raising past incidents a distraction

One of Ricci's lawyers, Joshua Wood, told jurors that they need to focus on the day of the slaying and the facts surrounding it rather than on piecemeal testimony and second-hand accounts of actions taken over a few years.

He said many of the events he expects state witnesses to describe happened in the six to nine months following the affair and are not relevant.

"Everything that happened that day was in a 15-minute period from 4:30 to 4:45 that afternoon," he said. "The state only has that small amount of time to work with, so they want to distract you (with the other testimony). Christine's words are the only evidence we have."

He said her distraught demeanor and behavior after the slaying indicates that she did not plan to kill him or try to make his death as painful and prolonged as the state might argue as part of its "extreme atrocity and cruelty" approach to the case.

"She never intended to kill him," Wood said. "Focus on what we actually know, and I will come to you at the end of the trial and ask that you find her not guilty."

The case continued Thursday with one of the couple's three children testifying what she heard and saw in the house the day of the slaying. The other two children were not home at the time.

What Christine Ricci says happened

Marshfield police wentto the Ricci home on Jan. 28, 2021, after the couple’s 16-year-old child called 911. Firefighters treating Michael Ricci, 51, found that he had been stabbed in the heart and on the back of his left shoulder. He had also been slashed on his back, according to the Plymouth County district attorney’s office.

Michael Ricci, a 23-year Boston firefighter, was taken to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, where he was pronounced dead.

Christine Ricci, who was 46 at the time of her arrest, has said her husband had been suffering a manic episode for three days when he came in from shoveling snow. She said an argument ensued and that he became aggressive, grabbed her throat and threw her to the floor.

According to the prosecutor at the time of her arraignment, Christine Ricci said she grabbed a knife to scare him away. He then lunged at her, and that’s when she plunged the knife into his chest, she said.

Both Michael and Christine Ricci had mental health issues, but no records exist to support the claims of manic behavior on Michael Ricci’s part, prosecutors said.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Marshfield murder trial: Wife couldn't get over husband's affair, prosecutor says