Crime
Prosecutors reportedly said Eric Griffin beat and strangled Jennifer Kalicki and then left her to die in their bed.
A jury found a 43-year-old Tewksbury man guilty of murdering his girlfriend in their apartment nearly four years ago on Wednesday.
A Middlesex Superior Court jury found Eric Griffin guilty of first-degree murder, strangulation, two counts of domestic assault and battery, and battery and intimidation of a witness in connection with the 2019 murder of 39-year-old Jennifer Kalicki.
“This verdict signifies our commitment to holding perpetrators of domestic violence accountable,” Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a press release Thursday.
“…This type of controlling behavior is far too common in these cases and calls greater attention to the need for addressing this public safety and public health risk.”
Kalicki’s death
Police found Kalicki’s body on Sept. 15, 2019, when they were called to her apartment on Archstone Avenue in Tewksbury around 8:30 a.m., the release said.
They found her unresponsive in a bed and declared her dead. She had suffered serious injuries consistent with a physical assault, the release said.
It was previously reported that Griffin called 911 when he woke up and found her unresponsive. The day before, Kalicki sent texts to Griffin’s sister saying that Griffin was attacking her and pleading for help.
“He’s ripped the door open. Choked me, slammed me to the ground,” one message read.
Griffin was arrested and charged later on Sept. 15 with assault and battery on a household or family member, the DA’s release said.
The investigation into Kalicki’s murder
The Chief Medical Examiner’s office ruled her death a homicide via blunt force trauma. It determined that Kalicki’s body and neck had been injured, and that she’d died of blunt force trauma to the head that caused a fatal brain bleed, the release said.
It was previously reported that Griffin told police he’d argued with Kalicki, but that she’d injured herself. Authorities determined his story wasn’t consistent with her injuries.
Through their investigation, authorities found that Griffin had a history of abusing Kalicki, and that his violent actions towards her escalated over time, the DA’s release said. At one point, he even convinced her to assert her Fifth Amendment rights to force authorities to drop charges against him.
It was previously reported that Kalicki bailed Griffin out of jail just days before he killed her. His criminal record included drug charges, probation violations, restraining orders, and a domestic violence case involving Kalicki that had been dismissed.
In December 2019, Griffin was indicted on charges of first degree murder, strangulation, and domestic assault and battery.
Griffin’s trial
Griffin’s trial began June 29, The Lowell Sun reported. Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Wiseman reportedly revealed during the trial that Griffin and Kalicki had been dating on and off for a few years before he killed her.
The prosecutor characterized their relationship as “punctuated by violence” in her opening statement, the newspaper reported. Griffin would become violent when Kalicki tried to stop him from using drugs, Wiseman reportedly said.
“This case is about abuse that culminated in murder,” the prosecutor reportedly told jurors.
Wiseman asserted that Griffin staged Kalicki’s body in the bed after beating her and then “left her there to die,” the Sun reported. A forensic pathologist from the medical examiner’s office reportedly testified that her death by brain bleed would’ve been “agonizingly slow.”
Griffin’s lawyers argued that Kalicki could’ve been the aggressor in the relationship and that Griffin was defending himself, the newspaper reported.
They backed this claim by showing pictures of injuries on Griffin’s face, and cited Kalicki’s arrest in 2019 for allegedly assaulting Griffin, the Sun reported. That charge was later dismissed.
“They want you to believe that this is as simple as angels and demons,” the defense reportedly said during opening remarks. “That Eric was a demon and Jen was an angel, even when she assaults him…Eric is no demon, and Jen was no angel.”
Griffin’s conviction
The jury took less than five hours to find Griffin guilty, the Sun reported.
“I’m in shock, I really am,” Kalicki’s mother reportedly told the newspaper through tears. “It’s what I wanted, but I never expected to get it. I thought somehow it wasn’t going to happen, but I’m so happy because [Griffin] does deserve to suffer.”
Kalicki was a human resources professional who friends and family remember for her selflessness and stylishness.
Griffin is set to be sentenced on July 27. The first degree murder charge alone carries a mandatory minimum of life in prison without parole.
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