A judge has sentenced a man to 40 years in prison in the June 2023 stabbing death of a woman near the Kings Point community in suburban Delray Beach.
Circuit Judge James Nutt imposed the sentence during a hearing Sept. 3 for Christopher Diego Soto, who jurors convicted in May of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of 51-year-old Tara Boesch.
The judge ordered that Soto, now 25, serve concurrent sentences of 40 years for the murder conviction and five years for an evidence tampering conviction, with the prison sentence to be followed by five years of probation.
He credited Soto with 1,159 days of time served in the Palm Beach County Jail, meaning that Soto has completed more than three years of his sentence.
Judge calls fatal stabbing of Tara Boesch 'as depraved as you can get'
During his sentencing remarks,
Nutt described Soto's actions as heinous, noting that Boesch was a stranger to him when he stabbed her multiple times, threw her in a car and dumped her body into a canal.
"It's textbook to me as depraved as you can get," he said.
The sentence was less than the life prison term that state prosecutors sought, but higher than the minimum of 20.5 years that Soto's public defenders asked for. Nutt said he would spare Soto from a life sentence due to his lack of criminal history, but added that Soto had shown neither signs of remorse or a willingness to take accountability for his crime.
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigators said Soto stabbed Boesch eight times in various parts of her body before dumping her remains.
Guilty man's dad apologizes to victim's family for 2023 fatal stabbing
At trial, state prosecutors sought to convict Soto on a first-degree murder charge, which carries a mandatory life sentence, but a jury opted to convict him on a lesser offense.
During the sentencing hearing, Soto's family and friends spoke on his behalf, describing a history of mentally illness that began when Soto was in his late teens. Soto's father apologized to Boesch's family.
Assistant Public Defender Megan Eaton told the court that Soto had a confirmed diagnosis of schizophrenia and had been detained under the state's Baker Act in the months prior to the fatal stabbing.
Assistant State Attorney Alexa Ruggerio told the court that Soto's mental illness diagnosis did not outweigh the acts that he committed.
"(The victim) was stabbed so many times in some of the most sensitive places, including her head, chest, and he testified himself that he was stabbing her to kill her and he was successful in doing that," she said.
As a condition of probation, Nutt ordered that Soto undergo a mental health evaluation and complete any recommended treatment.
Julius Whigham II covers northern Palm Beach County and public safety for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Judge calls woman's 2023 fatal stabbing 'as depraved as you can get'
