Yesterday was the funeral of Jack Maguire, a police officer from Woburn, Massachusetts, who was killed in the line of duty the day after Christmas.
Jack was 60 years old, scheduled to retire next year.
As I watched the funeral procession on TV, I was in awe...thousands of officers from all over the country marching, riding motorcycles, and in cruisers with blue lights flashing.
The level of honor and respect shown was immeasurable.
Jack Maguire responded to a robbery. Both he and one of the robbers were killed in an exchange of gunfire.
Here's the senseless part - the part stirring up anger in everyone who hears the story...
Jack Maguire's killer was parolee Dominic Cinelli. As a teenager, Cinelli stabbed a man in the chest, He had a lifelong, violent criminal record. He was sentenced in 1976 to three life sentences. His incarceration history includes over 50 disciplinary reports, including threatening and assaulting corrections officers.
Feeling ANGRY yet? Oh, it gets better...
In 1985, Cinelli was given a one-day furlough and did not return. While out, he committed five armed robberies and shot a 60-year-old security guard. The guard was lucky enough to survive the shooting.
In 1986, less than an hour after sentencing for the 1985 crimes, Cinelli slit his wrist and was taken to the Hospital, where he pulled a fake gun on a deputy sheriff who was guarding him, stole the officer's handgun, and ran from the hospital in shackles. He carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint and remained at large for 11 days...committing at least one other robbery.
In 2009, Dominic Cinelli was released on parole by the Massachusetts Parole Board.
Cinelli had told the Parole Board that he was "deeply sorry'' and a "new and different man" and said he was no longer a threat to the public. Oh, ok...well that explains it...he was sorry.
The Parole Board had failed to notify Middlesex County prosecutors of the hearing that led the panel to free Cinelli. Had they been notified, the prosecutors would have opposed Cinelli's release, as they had at a parole hearing three years earlier.
How can parole even be an option to someone with a violent history serving three life sentences?
This is the question raising anger over Officer Maguire's senseless death.
Jack Maguire is survived by a wife and three children whose lives will be changed forever.
I can only imagine the anger and pain that they are experiencing. May God give them the strength they need to survive their loss.
To the seven Parole Board members who unanimously voted to release Cinelli...I can't express what I'm feeling in words. I would not want to have to live with having made that decision.
To the criminals with upcoming hearings for parole in Massachusetts....probably not going to go your way right now with all the attention on the Board.
To all the politicians who are "appalled" and pointing fingers...too little, too late.
To Boston natives Ben Affleck and Matt Damon...I smell a movie.
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