In the next several weeks, a Massachusetts parole board will decide whether 43-year-old Rod Matthews should go free or remain in prison, where's he's been since the mid-80s. Matthews was 14 when he lured Shaun Ouillette into the woods in Canton where he killed the classmate with a baseball bat. Matthews was tried as an adult, the first time ever for a juvenile in this state, and he was convicted of second-degree murder. Now, he says he's a different person. At his third parole hearing yesterday, he asked for his release and detailed his crime and what he says is his remorse over it.

"I want to take this moment to tell you all how deeply sorry I am to take Shaun’s life," said Matthews. "I hit him in the back of the head. He collapsed to the ground, he cried out for help, and I hit him in the head again .... As sick as it sounds right now to prove. To prove that I could murder him."

Matthews' tears, however, did little to move the mother of Matthew's victim. Outside the court, Jeanne Quinn spoke with reporters. "That was crocodile. I was gonna give him my tissue," said Quinn. "I don’t believe a leopard can change his spots. First time he gets the urge, he’s gonna kill again." 

Northeastern University Criminology Professor James Alan Fox(@jamesalanfox) and Canton Police Chief Kenneth Berkowitz(@ChiefBerkowitz) who both testified at the hearing yesterday, on two different sides, joined Jim on Wednesday night.

Fox said that "kids are different from adults. They may look like adults, act like adults, even kill like adults but they think like children." He continued, "[Matthews] did it because he was 14 ... there was no good reason clearly." Fox said that he is impressed with Matthews sincerity, "he's a different person."

Chief Berkowitz, who has remained close with Ouillette's family throughout the years, said that Rod is a predator, and disagreed with Fox. Berkowitz recounted how Matthews planned out the murder of Ouillette. "This wasn't a crime of impulsiveness," said Berkowitz. "He planned it out."