Four men guilty of first-degree murder on Cape Cod have chance for parole. Who are they?

A Cape Cod man convicted of first-degree murder in 2001 may have a chance at a new future.

Leon Stewart is one of four men, convicted of first-degree murder in a Cape and Islands court, eligible for release on parole because of a recent state Supreme Judicial Court decision. The court decided in January that a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for 18- to 20-year-olds convicted of first-degree murder was deemed “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Stewart was 19 when he shot and killed 20-year-old Jennifer Perkins at around 3 a.m. on Aug. 19, 2000, as she sat in a Jeep in a friend's driveway in East Falmouth. Bullets from a handgun struck Perkins, the Jeep and a neighbor's house. Jurors heard a chilling recording of Perkins's last moments on a message left on a friend's answering machine. A Falmouth native, Perkins attended Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School in Bourne. She also left behind a newborn son and two sisters.

In 2007, the state Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Stewart's first-degree murder conviction. At the time, then-Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said Stewart would remain in prison for life.

Now, O'Keefe said, the possibility of release on parole for first-degree murder convictions breaks a promise made to families of those individuals who were slain.

"We were told in no uncertain terms that we would have life without parole when a jury convicted someone of murder in the first degree," O'Keefe said. O'Keefe, who decided not to run for district attorney again in 2022, worked in the Cape and Islands District Attorney's office for 40 years.

Families of victims were told, O'Keefe said, that "the person who killed their loved one, if convicted of murder one, would never get out of jail," he said.

The mother of one of the victims, Robin Farnsworth of Hyannis, said the court decision was not a surprise.

About 150 inmates in Massachusetts are or will soon be eligible for parole because of the court's decision, said Committee for Public Counsel Services Director of Parole Advocacy Unit Mara Voukydis.

First filing made in Barnstable Superior Court

Stewart is the first case within the Cape and Islands District Attorney's jurisdiction to start the process of seeking parole, based on a review of three files in court. A fourth man's file was not available in court to review.

Stewart's lawyer John Apruzzese filed paperwork on April 26 in Barnstable Superior Court to modify Stewart’s sentence from life without the possibility of parole to life with the possibility of parole.

Apruzzese was assigned the case by the Committee for Public Counsel Services.

"We're just starting the process of the possibility of him getting parole," Apruzzese said in a May 10 call, "but it’s up to the parole board." He declined to comment further.

Stewart was convicted June 20, 2001, in Barnstable Superior Court of first-degree murder, which carried a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole. He was also convicted of carrying a firearm without a license.

Four Cape and Islands cases

Robert Ferreira is another of the four men now eligible for parole. In 1987, Ferreira and another man stopped at a rest stop near Taunton where gay men were known to meet. Ferreira beat a man, tied him with wire and put him in the trunk of the man's car. He used the man's ATM to withdraw $200, bought cocaine and drove to the Cape Cod Canal. He attached jumper cables to a toolbox and the man's legs and dumped him into the Canal. The medical examiner determined that the man's death was by drowning associated with blunt impact trauma.

Zane Rasmusen is also is a candidate for release. Rasmusen stabbed 21-year-old Spencer MacLeod — Farnsworth's son — after breaking into an apartment in Yarmouth in 2002. Rasmusen was looking to pay back another man who put him in a chokehold at a party earlier in the evening. MacLeod heard a commotion and went downstairs to break up the fight. He was stabbed three times, including once in the heart.

Robert Vacher is the fourth man. Vacher stabbed 16-year-old Jordan Mendes 27 times and fatally shot him in the basement of a Hyannis home in 2008. Vacher then wrapped Mendes' body in a comforter and with the help of two others brought it to a shallow pit off Jennifer Lane in Hyannis where he set it on fire. Mendes' body was found hours later. He'd been robbed of $13,000.

What is a first-degree murder conviction?

For first-degree murder convictions, juries must determine if the killings were premeditated, exceptionally brutal, or occurred during the commission of a serious felony.

“First degree murder is heinous,” former Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. Blodgett was the district attorney in Essex County for 20 years, prior to 2023. He was on the board of the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance for 16 years.

The court's decision means 258 families of murder victims could potentially face endless parole board hearings, he said.

"The Massachusetts Legislature has determined the age of majority to be 18 years old," Blodgett said. "The court has created a protected class of criminals, those 18 to 20 who are convicted of murder one."

Why was the sentencing changed for 18- to 20-year-olds?

Years of research and improved brain imaging tools have provided evidence of anatomical and physiological differences between the brains of emerging adults and those of older adults. Social and scientific research has shown the brains of juveniles and emerging adults are similar, in a review of the Massachusetts court decision online.

The majority opinion for the Massachusetts court decision cited references to U.S. Supreme Court opinions that when it comes to sentencing, the "mitigating qualities of youth" must be considered.

As such, sentencing emerging adults to life without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional under the 8th Amendment and article 26 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.

The majority opinion reads in part that based on "precedent and contemporary standards of decency mandate this should go into effect.”

Because of laws already on the books, the decision creates two categories of inmates who could be eligible for parole. For those who committed offenses prior to July 25, 2014, sentences will now be life with the possibility of parole after 15 years. For those who committed offenses on or after that date, sentences will be life with the possibility of parole after 20 to 30 years.

Expecting the call

Soon after the Massachusetts court’s decision, one of the men linked to her son's murder called Farnsworth to tell her the news. The district attorney’s office called her. Rasmusen himself called her, too, from prison. She was expecting his call.

Farnsworth had visited Rasmusen at MCI Norfolk prison in 2017, 15 years after he killed her son.

She self-published a book in 2017 telling her and her son's story entitled “The Greater Weight of Glory: A Memoir.”

"I knew it had been cooking for a while,” Farnsworth said of the court decision.

She told Rasmusen that she and her son's father and brothers had talked about it. They were okay with the decision, and with whatever decision the parole board might make. But she wouldn’t tell him he deserved freedom.

"That’s God’s call," she said.

What happens next?

Voukydis expects some cases will be sent back to lower courts for resentencing first when convictions include more than one sentence.

Once a case reaches the parole board, "there will be a lot of contemplation on the part of the parole board as to whether or not this person is ready,” Voukydis said.

The parole board will consider an inmate’s institutional history, how many and what kind of disciplinary infractions he has, any educational or rehabilitation programs he's involved in or has graduated from. A significant part of the parole process is giving victim's families the opportunity to speak or read impact statements.

An inmate will have to answer questions and the board will ultimately have to determine whether the individual can be a contributing member of society, has been rehabilitated, and is unlikely to reoffend. 

"This is uncharted territory," Voukydis said.

Denise Coffey writes about business, tourism and issues impacting the Cape’s residents and visitors. Contact her at dcoffey@capecodonline.com. 

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Four Cape Cod men convicted of murder could make parole. Here's why.