This Rochester man killed his family as a teen 31 years ago. Now he's up for parole.

NATICK — A Rochester man, incarcerated since a teen for the murders of his parents and 11-year-old sister, is up for parole consideration after a hearing last week in front of the state Parole Board in Natick.

The man once known as Gerard McCra — who's since changed his name to Kuluwn Asar — now in his mid-40s, is serving consecutive life sentences for the 1993 murders of both his parents and 11-year-old sister. Asar was 15 years old at the time.

At the May 16 parole hearing, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz testified against Asar's release. Asar had previously been heard by the parole board on May 30, 2019, which was unanimously denied in March 2020, the DA's office wrote in a press release.

“McCra savagely executed his entire family back in 1993 and once again today before the Parole Board, he showed no remorse for his heinous actions, refusing to utter the victims’ names,” DA Cruz is quoted in the press release drafted after the May 16 hearing. “This man has had 31 years now to consider the magnitude and wrongfulness of his heinous actions. He has had 31 years to take advantage of all of the programming our criminal justice system has to offer in prison and better himself. He has not done so.

"McCra was a danger in 1993, and in my opinion, he is still a danger today. I urge the board to deny parole to McCra.”

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According to Plymouth County DA Director of Communications Beth Stone, Parole Board members estimated themselves to be on a 4-6 month timeframe on decisions.

What happened in 1993?

After an argument with both his parents on Oct. 9, 1993, Asar — then-known as McCra — "shot his mother, Merle McCra, 36, in the head inside their family home," according to the DA's office. "McCra then went outside and executed his father, Gerard McCra, Jr., 34, and sister, Melanie, shooting them in the back of their heads inside the family car as he sat in the backseat."

Asar was found guilty of the murders in 1995 and received three concurrent life sentences with no possibility of parole, according to the DA's office, with the Supreme Judicial Court later affirming the convictions on June 3, 1998.

SJC ruling affects Asar's parole eligibility

Parole became a possibility for Asar due to the 2013 SJC decision in Diatchenko v. District Attorney for Suffolk District & Others, according to the DA's office. In that decision, it was "determined that the statutory provisions mandating life without the possibility of parole were invalid as applied to juveniles convicted of first degree murder," the press release reads. "The Court further decided that the juveniles must be given a parole hearing. Because McCra was 15 years-old at the time of the murders, he became parole eligible."

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This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Rochester man convicted of killing family as teen up for parole