Contact: Beth Stone 508-584-8120
BROCKTON – The state Parole Board has issued their unanimous opinion to deny parole to a man who murdered his parents and 11 year-old sister in Rochester in 1993, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz has announced.
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.
In 1995, a Plymouth County jury found McCra guilty of the murders and he was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences without the possibility of parole. On June 3, 1998, the Supreme Judicial Court affirmed his convictions. In 2013, the SJC issued a decision in Diatchenko v. District Attorney for Suffolk District & Others, in which the Court determined that the statutory provisions mandating life without the possibility of parole were invalid as applied to juveniles convicted of first degree murder. The Court further decided that the juveniles must be given a parole hearing. Because McCra was 15 years-old at the time of the murders, he became parole eligible.
On May 30, 2019, McCra, now 41 years going by the name of Asar, appeared before the state Parole Board for a review hearing where DA Cruz spoke in opposition to his parole. Yesterday, the state Parole Board issued their unanimous opinion to deny his parole.
“Mr. McCra a/k/a Mr. Asar, savagely executed his entire family back in 1993 and then sat before the Parole Board, and showed no remorse for his heinous actions, not even uttering their names once,” DA Cruz said. “In light of the brutal and senseless nature of these murders, I commend the Parole Board on their thoughtful decision to keep him in prison.”
The factors considered by the Board included the offender’s “lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility, leading to recklessness, impulsivity, and heedless risk-taking; vulnerability to negative influences and outside pressures, including from their family and peers; limited control over their own environment; lack of the ability to extricate themselves from horrific, crime-producing settings; and unique capacity to change as they grow older.”
The Parole Board stated, “The Board has also considered whether risk reduction programs could effectively minimize Mr. Asar’s risk of recidivism. After applying this standard to the circumstances of Mr. Asar’s case, the Board is of the opinion that Kuluwm Asar is not yet rehabilitated, and his release is not compatible with the welfare of society. Mr. Asar, therefore, does not merit parole at this time.”
McCra, a/k/a Asar will be eligible to come before the Parole Board again in five years.
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