A 2024 ruling gave a second chance to a Massachusetts man once sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a fatal stabbing. But after months of waiting, he was denied parole.
Victor Degro was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of Daniel Santiago in 1994. 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.”…