Husband of former Boston city councilor asking for parole after 2000 murder
The husband of a former Boston city councilor is asking for parole Tuesday for the first time since he was convicted of first-degree murder in 2002.
Tanzerious Anderson is scheduled for an initial parole board hearing at 1 p.m. Tuesday. He married Tania Fernandes Anderson while he was in prison. In May, she pleaded guilty to corruption charges and is scheduled for sentencing in September.
The two met because of a "chance encounter in 2011″ when she ran into Tanzerius Anderson's family, according to Boston Magazine .
She had remembered him as the brightest in their class and began writing to him, the magazine wrote. They talked about everything from religion to quantum physics to politics.
"We fell in love," she told the outlet, and they got married in 2013.
"My friends asked me, 'Why, you have nothing with him, nothing physical, no support?'" she told Boston Magazine. "But when you know he is your person, you know. How dare I reject destiny?"
March 25, 2000
When Tanzerious Anderson was 19 years old, he was playing video games and smoking cannabis with a group of people when 16-year-old Joleena Tate asked him if he wanted to "rob someone," court documents state.
Tate said she knew a Lebanese immigrant, later identified as Inaam Yazbek, or "Yaz," who carried a lot of cash. She also said he was a "passive" person who would not "put up a fight if ever approached," court documents state.
Tate and Yazbek went out to eat at a restaurant in Watertown. Afterwards, Tate asked him to drive her to the designated location and, using his cell phone, sent "1145" to one of the group members' pagers to signal when she would be at the appointed meeting place.
When the two arrived, they saw Tanzerious Anderson in the hallway, and Tate announced that they were being robbed. She then walked away as Tanzerious Anderson led Yazbek by his arms back into the building.
Yazbek tried to plead with the group. At some point, Anderson became "nervous" and shot the victim in the back of the head, court documents state.
"I got my body for the summer," Anderson said after they ran from the building to a car.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, in 2024, the Supreme Judicial Court decision stated emerging adults between the ages of 18-20 cannot be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Massachusetts.
The high court ruled that life sentences for defendants within that age group are unconstitutional and amount to "cruel and unusual punishment."
Due to the decision, Anderson is being allowed to go in front of the parole board for the first time. But it doesn't mean he'll be released Tuesday. Decisions from the parole board often take months.
More on the Massachusetts Parole Board
Read the original article on MassLive .
