A Brockton man, William Allen, was serving a mandatory life sentence for murder, even though the person who stabbed the victim to death is free on parole. A group of community leaders hoped to convince the governor to commute Allen's sentence. Stonehill College Advanced Newswriting students in the Spring of 2021 and 2022 examined the effort. These are their stories.
William Allen will soon be free.
The Brockton man, who served 27 years in prison, was granted parole on April 20 and is expected to be released soon.
The Parole Board granted Allen's parole two months after unanimously approving a commutation of his life sentence for first degree murder. A first degree murder conviction carries a life sentence without parole. Commuting the sentence made Allen eligible for parole.
The Parole Board is now considering whether to grant William Allen parole. Allen's first degree murder conviction was commuted to second degree murder earlier by the Governor's Council, and signed by the governor. That decision makes Allen now eligible for parole. The same members on the Governor's Council are on the Parole Board. The Parole Board heard testimony in March 2022 on whether Allen should be granted parole.
It appears William Allen may soon be free. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker commuted the Brockton man's first degree murder conviction to second degree, making him eligible for parole. Baker commuted Allen's conviction and that of another man, former U.S. Marine Thomas Koonce, also of Brockton.
In the months since Stonehill College journalism students reported on the effort to gain a commutation for William Allen, things moved quickly. First, at the commutation hearing last year, both the victim’s daughter and Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz joined others in voicing support for Allen’s commutation. Now, after years of work by supporters, that step has been taken by the governor.
William Allen will soon be free. The Brockton man, who served 27 years in prison, was granted parole on April 20 and is expected to be rele...