SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – A judge in Hampden Superior Court sentenced Blake Scanlon of Westfield on first-degree murder charges for the 2019 stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend.
Scanlon has been found guilty of first-degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in connection to the death of his child’s mother after a three-day trial last Wednesday. In January 2019, Blake Scanlon was arrested after police were called to a home on White Street in Westfield and found 20-year-old Alexis Avery dead from apparent stab wounds. The two lived together and shared a child.
Scanlon was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
VIDEO: 22News in court for victim statements and sentencing
Avery’s family said justice was served and told 22News the next step in this painful journey is activism, to make sure that victims of domestic violence have the resources and support they need to break out of the cycle of abuse.
Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni stated, “I hope that this verdict and life time sentence brings some degree of justice to Ms. Avery’s family and other loved ones. I thank the detectives from the Westfield Police Department as well as detectives assigned to my office’s Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit for their thoroughness in this investigation. I also thank my team, especially lead trial counsel, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Green, appellate counsel, Assistant District Attorney Joe Coliflores, and Chief Victim Witness Advocate Jane Chevalier for all their hard work on this case. I am incredibly proud of their work, which was always focused on justice for Alexis and her family.”
Duncan MacLean is a reporter who has been a part of the 22News team since 2019. Follow Duncan on X @DMacLeanWWLP and view his bio to see more of his work.