TAUNTON, Mass. (WPRI) — A jury has convicted two men in the 2019 stabbing death of a Taunton man, concluding a nearly week-long trial, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III announced Friday.
Jerome Middleton of Fall River and Khaylon Cruz of New Bedford were found guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery in the death of 31-year-old Justin Paulo.
Taunton police responded to a report of an assault on Jan. 5, 2019, and found Paulo injured in a yard on Wilson Street. Family members transported him to Rhode Island Hospital, where he died the following day. His death was marked as Taunton’s first homicide since 2016.
BACKGROUND: 2 men arrested in stabbing death of Taunton man
Prosecutors said Paulo was repeatedly stabbed and his gold chain was stolen. Surveillance footage from a doorbell camera led to Cruz, then 24, and Middleton, then 19, being identified as suspects. They initially left the scene but later met up at Charlton Memorial Hospital, where Middleton sought treatment for injuries suffered during the attack…