A Massachusetts man who has maintained his innocence in connection with a killing in 1991 was granted parole last month.
In 2001, Samuel Smith was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Steven Gaul. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
However, in January 2024, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Commonwealth v. Mattis that sentencing people, ages 18 through 20 at the time of their offense, to life without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional and amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment.”…