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8 convicted of murder while young adults become first to be paroled under new SJC decision
One was convicted in 1970 and was initially sentenced to die in prison. Because he was a "youthful offender," he's now eligible for parole.
Eight people initially sentenced to die in prison will be released after a flurry of parole decisions last month, all hinged on a recent decision by the state’s highest court that “youthful offenders” should have an opportunity for parole.
In January of 2024, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in the decision Commonwealth v. Sheldon Mattis that adults under the age of 21 cannot be sentenced to life in prison without parole. In Massachusetts, first degree murder charges always carry a sentence of life without parole.
That means that people serving life without the possibility of parole who were 18, 19, and 20 years old at the time of their crime might now be parole eligible, depending on how many years they’ve already served.
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The Mattis decision was based on neurological evidence “that emerging adults have the same core neurological characteristics as juveniles have,” Chief Justice Kimberly Budd wrote in the decision at the time.
Lawyer Ryan Schiff argued the Mattis case in front of the SJC. He said more than 200 people are affected by the ruling, with about 150 of those already parole eligible.
“I don’t think it’s that surprising that the first eight people who went in got parole,” Schiff said. “There’s so many people who are impacted by the Mattis decision, who’ve really grown into really wonderful human beings and who have a lot to give back.”
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Charles Brown, Kirk Fernette, and William Smallwood, who all committed their crimes before 1985, were granted parole on Dec. 18. Christine Alexander, Steven Costa, Kevin Francis, and Luis Perez were all granted parole the next day.
“There’s a deep remorse that you feel so that I know for some of my clients, it was a mixed feeling,” Schiff said about clients learning of their second chance. “I haven’t talked to a single person who is impacted by Mattis who doesn’t recognize that and feel the burden with that.”
Parole board is overburdened, while Mass. has highest proportion of life without parole sentences
So far, eleven more Mattis cases are set to be heard in January and February, more than a year after the decision was handed down. Advocates and lawyers say the parole board is overburdened, handling both a sudden influx of Mattis cases this year and regularly scheduled hearings.
“We remain deeply committed to ensuring that parole hearings for individuals impacted by the Mattis ruling are conducted as expeditiously as possible,” a Massachusetts Parole Board spokesperson said. “This is a complex process that requires thorough preparation and close collaboration with stakeholders, including legal representatives, parole board members, and support organizations.”
Lawyer Lisa Newman-Polk, who has seven Mattis clients who are still waiting to go before the parole board, said state leaders need to step up to help the board. She said her clients have already served between 24 and 30 years.
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“I have multiple clients who are no-brainers for getting parole,” she said. Many haven’t had serious disciplinary reports in decades, have completed dozens of programs, and will present well once they get a hearing with the overburdened board, Newman-Polk said.
Massachusetts has a staggeringly decreasing prison population, with a 48 percent decrease since 2014. The state has one of the largest rates of life sentence populations in the country, in proportion with the overall population, according to a new report from the Sentencing Project. Twenty-nine percent of inmates in Massachusetts are serving life sentences, the nonprofit said.
Seventeen percent of the prison population is serving life without parole, which is the highest in the country, according to the Sentencing Project.
“… there’s a lot of people who shouldn’t be doing life without parole sentences, if we, as a society, believe in redemption and rehabilitation, and also what the neuroscience says about the fact that people are not fully developed when they’re young,” Newman-Polk said.
Who is rejoining society, and how?
The eight people recently paroles under Mattis, all convicted of first-degree murder, were granted parole at varying degrees. Some were released to an “approved home plan,” while others must spend time in minimum security custody, release programs, or long-term residential programs. One was granted parole to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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“Generally, the DOC and defense counsel work to identify an appropriate long-term residential program that meet each prisoner’s needs, such as substance use treatment, job skills training,” lawyer Seth Orkand said, who represented Smallwood.
Smallwood was 19 when he shot and killed a man during a liquor store robbery in Everett in 1977. He will spend three months in a minimum security prison before heading to a residential program, according to his parole decision.
Alfred Therrien became the first Mattis case heard by the state’s parole board in July. Therrien, now 77, was 20 when he killed a woman during an armed robbery in Framingham in 1967. His parole allows him to go home. His lawyer declined to comment.
Francis was 19 in 1981 when he fatally stabbed his girlfriend in Mattapan, prosecutors said, but has “steadfastly maintained his innocence” since his arrest, according to the parole decision. Now 63, Francis will spend 120 days in a minimum security prison before heading to a release program.
Alexander committed the most recent murder of the eight, in 1989. Alexander, a trans woman, was 20 when she strangled a woman in Hull who was pregnant with their child. Now, she will serve parole in a “suitable” long-term residential program, her parole decision read.
Lawyers for Alexander, Brown, and Francis declined to comment. Lawyers for Perez and Costa did not return a request for comment.
Orkand, who only represented Smallwood of the eight people recently paroled, said in an email his clients “understand that their release to the community is a tremendous privilege that comes with awesome responsibility.”
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“A client who was recently transferred to minimum security for the first time in decades was amazed that he was able to step outside and see trees in the distance, as he had been living behind a 19-foot concrete wall for his entire adult life,” Orkand said.
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