Convicted Murderer Will Be Released A Year Early Due To Coronavirus
BOSTON (CBS) - A convicted murderer will be released one year earlier than expected due to concerns over the coronavirus. Barbara Goucher, 54, will be released by the Massachusetts Parole Board on Tuesday, April 28.
Goucher pleaded guilty to second degree murder in 1999 after stabbing Gloucester resident, Florence "Bunny" Munroe to death.
"My mother's dying words were, you're going to jail for this," Munroe's daughter, Tammy O'Donnell told WBZ. "To sit here today and know that she's getting out, that, you know, I can't honor her last wish."
O'Donnell said she was informed of Goucher's release last Thursday.
Goucher was set to be released next year based upon a conditional period of time in a lower security jail but that period was shorted "in light of her current medical condition and the COVID-19 crisis," a parole spokesperson said. No further information was given on Goucher's medical condition or where she will be living.
The spokesperson said her release was within the framework of the Supreme Judicial Court's decision to expedite "the release of previously approved individuals, when appropriate, after conducting a thorough review of their cases."
Goucher, then 33, stabbed Munroe 108 times and suffocated her after Munroe told Goucher, a known drug addict, she would not give her money.
"Barbara sat in that room and said my mother was the only person that helped her. So, you killed the only person that helped you?" O'Donnell said, remarking on comments Goucher made during a previous parole board hearing.
