SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Despite an appeal by a Granby woman accused of killing her wife in 2010, a voluntary manslaughter conviction has been upheld against her.

Cara Rintala was found guilty of strangling her wife, Annamarie Cochrane Rintala, to death in October 2023. The incident occurred back in 2010 in their Granby home.

The case saw two mistrials and a first-degree murder conviction that was later overturned on appeal. A jury convicted her of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and she was sentenced to 12 to 14 years in state prison with about seven-and-a-half years already served.

In her latest appeal, Rintala argued that deliberations were tainted when a juror mentioned the earlier trials and that the judge denied a proper jury instruction.

An appeals court panel found the judge did not abuse his discretion by saying the defendant received a fair trial.

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