The 72-year-old wheelchair bound convict, formerly from Ludlow, was the subject of a four-hour parole board hearing.
This is an updated version of a story posted at 2:33 this afternoon.
Convicted double murderer Francis Soffen gestures during a parole hearing in 1998.NATICK – Saying he now is a Christian, a convicted murderer on Friday pleaded for mercy and said he is ashamed of killing two men nearly 40 years ago.
Sitting in a wheelchair, Francis F. Soffen, 72, formerly of Ludlow, sought release from prison during a four-hour hearing before the state parole board in Natick.
“God forgave,” Soffen told board members at the end of the emotional hearing attended by family members of the victims and two relatives of his own. “I hope you people can forgive. You guys will be proud of me if I get out on parole.”
The board took Soffen’s request under advisement. A spokesman said there is no set time for a decision to be made.
The parole board chairman, Joshua Wall, and several other board members expressed strong skepticism and doubts about Soffen’s testimony.
Wall said the convict’s testimony showed that he continued to misrepresent and obscure his role in the double murders in 1972. Wall said that during Soffen’s testimony on Friday, the inmate lied to the parole board on important aspects of his crimes.
Wall criticized Soffen for repeatedly asserting that he shot one victim, Gary J. Dube, of Agawam, because he thought Dube might shoot another person and maybe himself. While in the back seat of a car on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Ludlow, Soffen shot Dube twice in the head. Dube’s body was later wrapped in plastic and thrown in the Connecticut River.
“We don’t judge religious conversion,” Wall told Soffen. “We judge remorse and rehabilitation.”
“I thought Gary was reaching for a gun,” said Soffen, an inmate at a state prison in Shirley. “I thought I believed that.”
In a plea bargain with Matthew J. Ryan, the Hampden District Attorney at the time, Soffen pleaded guilty in 1973 to robbing three banks and to second-degree murders in the slaying Stephen J. Perrot and Dube. Prosecutors said the two men were killed to prevent them from testifying. Soffen received two life sentences with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
Parole boards have denied Soffen early release at least a dozen times over the years.
Wall, a former first assistant district attorney in Boston, was appointed the new chairman by Gov. Deval L. Patrick as part of a shakeup on the board after a parolee killed a Woburn police officer in December.
Wall also criticized the convict when Soffen said he only once touched the trigger of an automatic handgun and he didn’t intend to fire the six shots that were emptied into the head of Perrot. Perrot was killed behind a motor lodge on East Columbus Avenue in Springfield.
“It was semi-automatic,” Wall said. “You’ve got to make a decision to keep your finger on the weapon and keep it .¤.¤. aimed and firing.”
Wall and other parole board members also castigated Soffen for receiving a disciplinary report for “grabbing” the posterior of a nurse in October 2008 in a prison infirmary.
“It’s indecent assault and battery,” Wall told Soffen, who was not charged in the case.
Soffen’s lawyer, John Rull, of Walpole, said Soffen had received no disciplinary reports since January 2009. Rull said Soffen’s clean record in prison for nearly the past three years coincides with his conversion to Christianity.
Soffen told board members that he does not expect to live for another hearing. Soffen’s lawyer said the inmate has suffered four heart attacks and is hampered by diabetes, high blood pressure, Hepatitis C, liver disease and arthritis.
Soffen’s niece, Debra A. Allen, of Springfield, pleaded for her uncle’s release and read a statement from another niece, Maureen A. Maynard, of Enfield. Allen said Soffen has paid his dues.
“I’m asking you to forgive and let my uncle Franny come home,” said Allen, who recalled family picnics and pool parties at Soffen’s home in Ludlow.
Family members of the victims opposed parole, including Bonnie J. Dube Clark, of Agawam, a sister of Dube, and Michael S. Perrot, son of Perrot.
Dube Clark said Soffen’s only remorse is that he is still in prison. She said there is no reason to grant him parole.
During his first couple of decades in prison, when furlough and work release laws were much more lenient in the state, Soffen frequently spent unsupervised days out of prison, with no violations, according to his lawyer.
Dube Clark told a story about how she was in a dining room at a restaurant in Ludlow and saw Soffen walk to the bar and order a drink.
“He blew the head off my brother and had furloughs,” she told the parole board. “Who heard of such a thing?”
Hampden Assistant District Attorney Diane M. Dillon told board members that Soffen demonstrated he still is unprepared for parole. She said Soffen still is unrepentant for his crimes and his parole bid should be turned down.