Daughters of slain Massachusetts Trooper George Hanna fight killer's parole, want law changed
It has been 42 years since State Trooper George Hanna was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop in Auburn, Massachusetts. The 36-year-old pulled over a vehicle in a parking lot and worked to get the occupants out of the car when he was shot seven times. Three men were convicted by a jury and judge and sentenced to life without the chance of parole, until now.
A Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision two years ago this month, ruled that it was illegal to impose a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole to individuals convicted of first-degree murder if they were under the age of 21 at the time of the crime. Jose Colon is one of them who is now eligible for parole under the so-called Mattis Law. His parole board hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning.
Colon was found guilty of shooting six rounds into Trooper Hanna that fateful February night in 1983. Hanna's two daughters were informed of Colon's potential for parole last year.
"It's been a very hard year," said Kim Hanna, who was 13 at the time of her father's murder. "He was someone everybody knew and loved. He was the best son, brother, colleague and father."
Kim and her sister Debbie want changes to Mattis Law to exclude convicted killers of law enforcement or public officials. Two groups the sisters believe need protection under the law.
"We need to protect our police or else we are not going to have people who want to be police officers," Debbie Hanna said. "They are letting people out who are convicted of murders into Massachusetts. They could be living next door to you."
Gov. Healey opposes killer's parole
Governor Maura Healey seemed to largely agree in a letter sent to the state's parole board on Tuesday. The governor strongly opposed Colon's potential for parole. In her letter she wrote in part:
"This offense inflicted profound and lasting harm. In a civil society, law enforcement officers uphold the laws that allow our communities to live in peace and safety. The intentional killing of an officer in the line of duty is not only a brutal crime against one person; it is a violent assault on the rule of law and on the institutions the public depends on for safety and justice. Its impact is carried across generations by a grieving family and shouldered by a law enforcement community that will always remember and mourn its fallen."
Releases under Mattis Law
WBZ-TV obtained data from the state's parole board and found the agency was reviewing 210 cases that have convicted murderers who are now eligible for parole under Mattis Law. Of those cases, 52 decisions have been made by the board, 39 conditional early releases have been granted. That's an approval rating of 76%.
That number alarmed the Hanna's who worry that if Colon is denied his first time, they will likely have to face this board on their father's behalf every one to five years as Colon becomes eligible again.
"Some people in their mind might say 42 years is long enough for that individual, as I call him Satan, is someone who has done nothing but bad things while in prison," said Debbie. "We should not have to see this man again and be revictimized to try to plea to keep him in jail where he belongs."
Trooper Hanna's family will be at Colon's hearing on Thursday morning.