Mass. family pleas to keep killer behind bars after parole law change: ‘I’m still angry’
Family members of a Brockton man killed 37 years ago confronted the killer, Robert Morganti, at a parole board hearing on Thursday and demanded he remain locked up for the rest of his life.
"My son doesn't get a second chance at life," read a letter from the father of the victim, Anthony LoConte, who was killed in 1988. He said Morganti's release would be "deeply unjust" and "diminish the gravity of my son's life and his death." LoConte died at 24.
The family never expected to be pleading for the convicted killer to remain behind bars. A change in the law last year, however, gives certain convicted murderers serving life sentences a chance at being released from prison.
Morganti, 56, appeared before the state's parole board on Thursday for his first parole hearing. He was convicted in 2003 of LoConte's killing. He fled capture for 12 years, living a double life in California under several false identities and dealing drugs. He was arrested in 2000 for driving under the influence of alcohol.
His fingerprints revealed an outstanding warrant in Massachusetts, which helped close a cold case.
Morganti presented himself as a changed man at the hearing, telling board members that he participates in programs at MCI-Shirley, such as restorative justice, which are teaching him to accept accountability for his actions.
"I would like to apologize specifically to the LoConte family," Morganti said. "I'm sorry for what happened back then."
Under questioning by the board members, Morganti said he began participating in programs only in recent years, despite being incarcerated for nearly 20 years.
He acknowledged being aware of the Supreme Judicial Court case, Commonwealth v. Mattis , in the years leading up to its 2024 decision.
The decision found that sentencing people to life without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional for people who were 18 to 20 at the time of the offense.
Morganti, who was 19 at the time of the killing, became eligible after the court's decision.
LoConte's family, however, is adamant that Morganti has not changed his ways and that he is attempting to take advantage of the relatively new law.
"When he first spoke [today] about being remorseful, it was the first time he said anything to our family," Cindy O'Donnell, LoConte's sister, said during a post-hearing interview.
"And I think the only reason he did say that was because he is trying to get out of jail," O'Donnell said.
'It's like the trial is back again,' sister says
O'Donnell said she went to all the hearings for LoConte, from the trial to the appeals court.
She felt OK when she arrived at Thursday's hearing, but then broke down within the first five minutes, she said.
"It's hard to compose yourself," O'Donnell said. "It's like rehashing everything all over again. It's like the trial is back again. You are reliving it; it's a nightmare."
The parole board did not issue a decision on Morganti's appeal; that process typically takes several months.
However, even if he's denied, O'Donnell said he could come back before the board between one and five years from now, according to a conversation she had with the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office.
"He got life without possibility of parole, I'm hoping that it still holds true to that," O'Donnell said. "I don't believe his mind wasn't developed. It was a premeditated thing. He didn't have to pull the trigger."
"I'm still angry about it, I'm still upset about it, that my family has to go through this," she added.
What happened on May 10, 1988
Morganti was known to be a mid-level distributor of cocaine in Brockton in 1988 and often worked with another man, Jeffrey Tessier.
On the night of the killing, Tessier tricked Morganti into paying him for fake drugs by putting a package of various items, including "Old Spice," into a container, according to court documents. Tessier did this at LoConte's house after getting takeout Chinese food.
Morganti gave Tessier $10,500 for the paper bag package. When Tessier got back, he handed $2,000 to LoConte, according to court documents.
But Morganti quickly caught on to the ruse.
At the parole board hearing, Morganti explained that in Brockton at the time, getting "beat" on a drug deal was called "getting spanked."
"I couldn't deal with that; it was $10,000. I couldn't hack it," Morganti said.
While LoConte's mother was sitting watching TV, Morganti came back to the house and began banging angrily and demanding his money back.
LoConte ran out the door.
His sister said that LoConte tried to protect his mother from Morganti.
"He only went out because he thought [Morganti] would go inside the house," O'Donnell said on Thursday.
When LoConte went outside, Morganti hit him in the face with a pistol and told him to get inside a car driven by another person. He wanted to find Tessier to get his money back, and he shot LoConte nearly a mile down the road, Morganti said.
LoConte was found at 11 p.m. with a gunshot wound to his head on the side of the road. The gun had been fired less than 6 inches from LoConte's head.
His sisters called it "horrific," adding that he was beaten, shot, dumped on the street and run over, in a previous interview with MassLive.
Later, officials said Morganti told a friend that he had "killed the wrong person." After getting some of the money back, Morganti left for California.
A homicide warrant was issued against Morganti on May 11, 1988, but for the next 12 years, he remained a fugitive — and the family remained afraid.
"We didn't know if he was going to come back [to] kill my mother or the rest of our family," O'Donnell said.
Family opposes landmark SJC decision
Timothy Robishaw, the nephew of LoConte, was a junior in high school during Morganti's trial and only two years old when his uncle was killed.
He told parole board members that photos of the crime scene are "imprinted" in his mind. He asked members of the parole board to see the same photographs of the "horrific murder that happened."
Robishaw said the family picketed against the court's landmark decision, and his uncle's murder was the subject of a podcast called "Morbid," which delves into criminal cases.
A Change.org petition seeks to convince Massachusetts lawmakers to reverse the court's ruling and reinstate mandatory life sentences without possibility of parole for 18 to 20-year-olds when convicted of first-degree murder.
"He showed no remorse until the possibility of getting out," Robishaw said about Morganti on Thursday.
'Crime doesn't pay,' Marganti says
Nearly 20 people came out in support of Morganti during the parole board hearing. His brother-in-law, aunt and a girlfriend from childhood spoke in favor of his release.
The brother-in-law said that he visited Morganti in jail over the years and that they talk almost weekly on the phone.
He said that Morganti hung out with the wrong people at the time and that his family also lost a relative to similar circumstances.
"We had the same circumstances in our family, so we feel for the family," the brother-in-law said.
He said that Morganti would be released to a family that is a "tight group" and that Morganti deserves a second chance.
Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Arne Hantson spoke against Morganti's release.
"It's clear he hasn't gained any insight into what happened here," Hantson said.
He pointed out that when Morganti was asked what he learned from the killing, he responded: "Crime doesn't pay."
"[The response] had nothing to do with sympathy, remorse, or accountability," Hantson said. "It's a selfish response ... He's the same person he was when he shot Anthony."
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