By Abby Campbell
When Joseph Salvati was commuted in 1997, no one could have predicted it would be the last commutation for a life sentence in 25 years.
Salvati was wrongfully convicted of being an accessory to murder in 1968 but the sentence was commuted in 1997 and he was released on parole after new evidence surfaced in the case.
In 2001, the charges were dropped after a special prosecutor investigating the FBI's use of informants uncovered information that two other people committed the murder without his involvement.
Other people received commutations for other crimes, such as in 2014 when then Gov. Deval Patrick commuted a drug distribution sentence, but none for those serving life for homicide-related crimes.
Unlike pardons, commutations don’t forgive the underlying offense; They simply shorten the period of incarceration, according to the Massachusetts Parole Board website.
The reluctance to commute sentences wasn’t always the case. In the 1970s, Governors Frank Sargent and Michael Dukakis commuted 90 sentences.
But then commutations died out of favor during Governor Edward King’s time and Massachusetts has not seen a spike in commutations since Sargent and Dukakis.
That changed in 2022. Governor Baker approved William Allen’s commutation request on January 12, 2022.
On April 20, 2022, the state Parole Board unanimously voted to grant Allen parole.
Allen was one of two men commuted that day; Thomas E. Koonce was convicted in 1987 for killing a New Bedford man.
Allen was convicted of first-degree murder in 1994, even though he was not the one to commit the actual murder. He was convicted because he was at the scene when the murder, a felony, occurred.
When he was first convicted, he received the mandatory sentence of life without parole.
Allen petitioned for executive clemency in 2017, and in September the state Advisory Board of Pardons unanimously voted to recommend Governor Baker commutate Allen’s sentence from first-degree murder to second-degree murder.
This commutation would then make Allen eligible for parole.
Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz supported parole for Allen.
“People make mistakes, I’m not perfect, nobody’s perfect,” Cruz said.
Allen is Cruz’s second commutation case. Cruz believed that Allen had served enough time.
Cruz had asked himself when the man who had actually committed the murder has been out for ten years, why is Allen still in jail? Cruz said he believed this aided in his decision to support Allen.
But Cruz wanted it to be clear that what Allen did was still bad. But, he believed he had served enough time.
“There are no rewards for this case, he was involved in a homicide. But, he did time,” Cruz said.
One of Allen’s biggest advocates and supporters of Allen getting commutation was an initiative out of the Brockton Interfaith Community, called Second Chance Justice.
Although commutations are rarer in Massachusetts, this isn’t the case elsewhere in the United States.
Joe Moore, a member of Second Chance Justice, said he believes there will be more commutation requests in Massachusetts in the future due to Allen’s case.
Moore said he heard anecdotally from Allen that inmates serving life without parole are now holding out hope for release. Moore said that this is an interesting shift.
“We have the third-highest rate of people serving life without parole in the United States,” Moore said.
Criminology Program Director Kathleen Currul-Dykeman said there may have been fewer commutations approved because of the respect and collaboration between the governmental branches within Massachusetts.
“Our appellate process is typically effective. Our executive branch likely respects the judicial branch and our governors do not try to overstep likely,” Currul-Dykeman said.
Currul-Dykeman said that governors should not have to increase their commutation approvals.
“It really depends on the case,” Currul-Dykeman said.
Cruz said Massachusetts governors like Gov. Charlie Baker should try and use their commutation power more often.
“If you have the power, at least look at it [the commutation requests],” Cruz said.
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