Jose Colon had spent just 17 days in Massachusetts when he shot and killed State Police Trooper George Hanna on the night of Feb. 26, 1983, after being pulled over in Auburn on the way to a liquor store that he and others planned to rob.
Convicted of first-degree murder, Colon, who was 20 that night, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
But in January 2024, Colon — and numerous other criminal defendants — suddenly became parole-eligible when the state’s highest court struck down life sentences without parole as unconstitutional for “emerging adults” — those between 19 and 21…