23-04-2025
Healey vowed more gubernatorial mercy. Those convicted of murder wait to hear if that means them.
Yet, the first-term Democrat has yet to issue a decision in each of the cases, which landed on her desk anywhere from five to
nearly 18 months ago. The board had also recommended a fifth man have his sentence commuted last fall, but he was paroled before Healey acted.
Such gubernatorial reprieves have long been uncommon. Healey's five immediate predecessors combined to grant just four, with Charlie Baker, a Republican,
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Commutations typically involve those convicted of some of the most violent crimes — murder, assault, armed robbery — adding a layer of moral and
That the recommendations are now stalled with Healey has surprised both petitioners and their attorneys. The former state attorney general has otherwise generously wielded her clemency power like few, if any, governors before her, issuing nearly two dozen pardons, which, in effect, forgive a crime. Her actions raised expectations that she would, too, embrace commutations, which reduce a criminal sentence.
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'To some extent, they're losing hope,' attorney Patricia DeJuneas said of Florentino, 66, and Fielding, 74, both of whom are her clients and are serving sentences of life without parole. The board recommended them for commutations in August and October, respectively. The 'radio silence,' she said, is what weighs on them.
'I tell my clients: This is a political favor we're asking for. It could be controversial,' she said. 'But right now it's kind of a black hole.'
Karissa Hand, a spokesperson for Healey, said last week the governor was still reviewing the four recommendations the Advisory Board of Pardons sent her. Her
The board also sent Healey three other so-called unfavorable reports, in which it voted that the person's sentence should not be commuted.
Since taking office, Healey has
Healey also issued a
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'She expects to recommend more pardons and commutations in the near future,' Hand, Healey's spokesperson, said.
Commutations would be a new front. Healey has yet to issue one, and should she approve all four favorable recommendations before her — and the Governor's Council approves them — it would mark the most issued by a governor in nearly 30 years. (Bill Weld, a Republican
who left office in 1997, granted seven commutations.)
Those with favorable recommendations before Healey were all convicted of murder, three of first-degree and one of second-degree.
But in the years, and sometimes decades, since, they've received degrees, helped mentor others in prison, and committed to rehabilitating themselves, according to the Advisory Board of Pardons' reports. The panel, which also doubles as the state's Parole Board, recommended a mix of remedies, including reducing their sentences to make them eligible for parole.
William Florentino, left.
In many cases, they were young, troubled men when they committed their crimes, according to the board's reports. Florentino was 20 years old when he participated in a 1977 liquor store robbery in which his partner shot and killed a customer, Edward Stevens.
Florentino didn't fire the gun, but was convicted of first-degree murder. He's since become known in prison as 'the peacemaker' and 'wise Will' for his mentorship of others, according to the board, which recommended his sentence be reduced to second-degree murder, either clearing him to be released or to be eligible for parole.
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Fielding, a Vietnam War veteran, was 21 and addicted to heroin in June 1972 when he and another man robbed a liquor store, where Fielding said he panicked and shot Joseph Reppucci. His partner, Joseph Yandle, had his sentence commuted in the mid-1990s by Weld, while Fielding has served the last 42 years without a single disciplinary report. Most of the board recommended his sentence be commuted to time served.
A third petitioner, Randy Arias, shot and killed Julio Zuniga outside a Lawrence night club in 2008, and has served the last 16-plus years on a second-degree murder conviction. He also received a consecutive 10- to 12-year sentence on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
He's since received a GED and bachelor's degree and helped train dogs, and argued that, as a Latino, he wasn't offered the same kind of plea deals that other white inmates received. The board recommended that his consecutive sentence on assault be reduced, giving him an earlier shot at parole.
Scott Kirwan, a Navy veteran who was 24 and struggling with substance use when he stabbed and killed Steven Meagher outside a Pembroke bar in 1999, has been awaiting a decision the longest.
The board recommended his sentence be commuted to second-degree murder in October 2023 — a day before Healey issued her rewritten guidelines — saying he was 'deeply remorseful' and had 'seriously committed to his rehabilitation.' Though the recommendation has been sitting for more than a year, Healey's office told Kirwan several months ago it was still being considered, said his attorney Robert Griffin.
'The recommendation is there. There isn't much more we can do,' Griffin said. 'He's been the absolute model prisoner. . . . I'm at a loss for what's holding it up.'
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In October, the board also recommended that Artem Vaskanyan, who served decades in prison for his role in a deadly home invasion, receive a commutation. But he won parole a few weeks later, and state officials closed his commutation case in December, according to a letter the board provided.
In most cases, the victim's relatives spoke out against the commutations, either to urge the board to uphold their original sentence or express the pain their loved ones' deaths caused.
Pamela Meagher, Steven Meagher's sister, told the board her two children remind her of her brother, but that sharing memories of him is 'not the same as having him in their lives.'
'Every time there is another hearing [in Kirwan's case], the heartache and grieving start all over again,' Tom Foley, a family friend of the Meagher's, told the board, according to its report.
Other board reports did not detail relatives' exact reservations, and in some cases, redacted their names.
The effects of the long wait on a decision from Healey have rippled elsewhere. DeJuneas, Florentino and Fielding's attorney who also helps lead a committee that pairs pro bono attorneys with others seeking clemency, said few lawyers are willing to take on cases for free if 'nothing's happening' with those already in the pipeline.
'Her administration put a lot of effort into this. And yet, she's not moving on these things,' DeJuneas said. 'It doesn't really make sense to me.'
Matt Stout can be reached at
