Dean Kapsalis, a Massachusetts man, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years for the 2021 murder of Henry Tapia following a racist road rage encounter.
Kapsalis was convicted of second-degree murder and other offenses after shouting a racial slur and hitting Tapia with his pickup truck.
The judge called the sentence proportional to the crime and acknowledged the impact on Tapia’s family.
Dean Kapsalis sentenced to life in prison for racist road rage attack that killed Henry Tapia https://t.co/iZ4h8M8UYJ pic.twitter.com/q88CqEZW12
— New York Post (@nypost) January 18, 2024
District Attorney Marian Ryan said, “The murder of Henry Tapia is a senseless tragedy fueled by hate and anger.”
“The fact that some of the last words Henry Tapia heard were a horrific racial insult meant to intimidate and threaten him based on the color of his skin is something we cannot tolerate,” she continued.
Judge David A. Deakin said to Kapsalis, “your record reflects essentially a lifelong tendency toward violence.”
“I am well aware that no sentence can give them what they most want, which is to have Mr. Tapia back,” he continued.
“If I could, I wouldn’t do anything other than that,” he added.
Kapsalis had argued that Tapia’s death was an accident, but his attempt to reduce his conviction was unsuccessful.
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