Contatto: 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.
Nel 1995, una giuria della contea di Plymouth ha dichiarato McCra colpevole degli omicidi ed è stato condannato a tre ergastoli concomitanti senza possibilità di libertà vigilata. Il 3 giugno 1998, la Corte Suprema ha confermato le sue condanne. Nel 2013, il SJC ha emesso una decisione nel caso Diatchenko v. District Attorney for Suffolk District & Others, in cui la Corte ha stabilito che le disposizioni di legge che prevedono l'ergastolo senza possibilità di libertà vigilata non sono valide se applicate a minori condannati per omicidio di primo grado. La Corte ha inoltre stabilito che i giovani devono essere sottoposti a un'udienza per la libertà condizionata. Poiché McCra aveva 15 anni all'epoca degli omicidi, è diventato idoneo alla libertà vigilata.
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