Court rules man got a fair trial on charges he bashed his roommate to death with a baseball bat in Roxbury; to spend rest of life in prison

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Cristian Rodriguez for using a baseball bat to kill his roommate in their room on Tremont Street in Roxbury in 2012.

The ruling means Rodriguez, who had argued he was insane and so incapable of being held accountable, will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Rodriguez's lawyer argued that his insanity defense was hampered by the judge telling the jury to be careful not to accept what Rodriguez said to psychiatrists or social workers before the murder as proof of things that actually happened. The state's highest court ruled the judge did nothing wrong.