Contato: Beth Stone 508-584-8120
NATICK – Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz testified against the release of a man who murdered both of his parents and 11 year-old sister yesterday before the state Parole Board.
On October 9, 1993, then 15 year-old Gerard McCra, now known as Kuluwm Asar, argued with both of his parents. McCra possessed a firearm and later that same day, shot his mother, Merle McCra, 36, in the head inside their family home. McCra then went outside and executed his father, Gerard McCra, Jr., 34, and sister, Melanie, shooting them in the back of their heads inside the family car as he sat in the backseat.
Em 1995, um júri do Condado de Plymouth considerou McCra culpado pelos assassinatos e ele foi condenado a três sentenças simultâneas de prisão perpétua sem possibilidade de liberdade condicional. Em 3 de junho de 1998, a Suprema Corte Judicial confirmou suas condenações. Em 2013, a SJC emitiu uma decisão em Diatchenko v. District Attorney for Suffolk District & Others, na qual a Corte determinou que as disposições legais que determinavam a prisão perpétua sem possibilidade de liberdade condicional eram inválidas quando aplicadas a jovens condenados por homicídio de primeiro grau. A Corte também decidiu que os jovens devem ter uma audiência de liberdade condicional. Como McCra tinha 15 anos de idade na época dos assassinatos, ele se tornou elegível à liberdade condicional.
On May 30, 2019, McCra, first appeared before the state Parole Board for a review hearing where DA Cruz spoke in opposition to his parole. In March, 2020, the state Parole Board unanimously denied McCra’s parole. In May, 2024, McCra once again appeared before the board, and they unanimously denied his parole, and set two years to the next hearing date, which was held yesterday.
“McCra savagely executed his entire family back in 1993,” DA Cruz said. “This man has had more than three decades to consider the magnitude and wrongfulness of his heinous actions. He has also had that time to take advantage of the programming our prison system has to offer and better himself, but he has chosen not to do so. McCra was a danger in 1993, and in my opinion, he is still a danger today. This man should never be returned to the community of Rochester, the County of Plymouth, or to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and I urge the board to deny parole to McCra.”
MAY 21, 2026