CONTACT: BETH STONE 508-584-8120
BROCKTON – A man who shot and killed both of his parents and sister has been denied parole, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz has announced.
The state Parole Board issued their opinion of their unanimous decision on October 15, 2024, to deny parole to Gerard McCra, now 46 years-old, and now known as Kuluwn Asar.
On October 9, 1993, then 15 year-old Gerard McCra, now known as Kuluwn 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 Rochester 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 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. At McCra’s most recent Parole Board hearing on May 16, 2024, DA Cruz testified once again.
“I commend the state Parole Board’s decision,” DA Cruz said. “McCra savagely executed his entire family back in 1993, and has never showed remorse for his heinous actions. “This man has had 31 years now to consider the magnitude and wrongfulness of his heinous actions. He has had 31 years to take advantage of all of the programming our criminal justice system has to offer in prison and better himself. He has not done so. McCra was a danger in 1993, and in my opinion, he is still a danger today.”
In their unanimous decision denying parole, the board wrote, “The Board acknowledges the progress Mr. Asar has made toward rehabilitation. However, he has further work to do in the areas of healthy relationships, Restorative Justice, victim empathy, and emotional awareness, including completion of Victim Offender Education Group. He is also encouraged to remain disciplinary free.”
The Board will hold a review hearing on McCra in two years, on May 16, 2026.