WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - The trial of a man accused of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend at a restaurant in Worcester in 2019 got underway on Monday.
Carlos Asencio, of Derry, New Hampshire, is facing a murder charge in the July 3, 2019, death of Amanda Dabrowski inside O’Connor’s Restaurant in Worcester in front of patrons and workers. He has pleaded not guilty.
Authorities say Asencio stabbed Dabrowski, 31, nearly 20 times in the neck and body before being subdued by patrons and restaurant staff.
The prosecution and Asencio’s lawyer spent Monday reviewing what led up to the stabbing and what occurred afterwards – laying out their cases for a trial that is expected to last a week.
“The fact that the defendant was suicidal after this brutal killing shows that he knew what he just did, and he knew what he was doing,” the prosecutor said. “There’s a saying – ‘revenge is a dish best-served cold,’ and nobody followed that mantra better than Carlos Asencio.”
“Now, the fact that someone can plan does not negate psychosis,” said Asencio’s lawyer, Robert Griffin. “What happened is a result of his mental illness. What happened is a result of his inability to inform his conduct to the requirements of our law.”
Asencio was initially found not competent to stand trial, but has since been found competent and transferred from Bridgewater State Hospital to the Worcester County jail.
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