The leadership of the state’s parole system was decimated this week amid mounting pressure from most law enforcement and state officials after a parolee fatally shot a Woburn police officer the day after Christmas.
“Ultimately it is Cinelli and Cinelli alone who is responsible for the murder of Officer Maguire,” Gov. Deval Patrick said of the parolee. “But I cannot say that the Parole Board and parole office did all they could to ensure public safety.”
The five serving Parole Board members who voted to release Dominic Cinelli in 2008 resigned Wednesday night. Cinelli, who had been sentenced to three life sentences, died in a gunfight in which he fatally shot Officer John Maguire during a department store robbery Dec. 26.
The executive director of the Parole Board also resigned, and the secretary of public safety suspended and began termination hearings for other staff members who held key positions during the review of Cinelli’s release. They include the chief of field services, the field office supervisor and the parole officer in charge of Cinelli’s supervision.
A report by John Grossman, the undersecretary for public safety, found areas where the agency and personnel “did not perform adequately.” He said that if the Parole Board had used a risk-assessment method, Cinelli would have received a 9 out of 10.
Patrick also said that he planned to file legislation Friday that would require a maximum sentence for offenders of certain violent felonies who have been twice previously convicted.
