Rod Matthews

I am very much torn on this case, not in what occurred with the crime, who the perpetrator was, or even whether anything was done illegally, but in where this case should go today after nearly thirty-five years. I am very much a proponent of looking at a person and not just the crime when it comes to criminals. Now obviously there are cases in which I find to be so heinous that I just cannot see how someone can ever be redeemed. If Rod Matthews would have been an adult when this crime occurred I would definitely be less torn but he was only fourteen years old at the time, in fact, I was also fourteen in 1986 when this crime occurred.

Before I get into the case I want to address something that I feel passionately about but is also controversial when it comes to the general public. I have gotten into many “arguments” with people over my belief that human nature and eras in history can dictate how a person acts in situations. The case in which I have had the most debates in this area is the Sylvia Likens case from the 1960's. It was a case in which a sixteen year old girl was beaten, starved and tortured in a home in Indianapolis, Indiana. The torture was orchestrated by the woman who had been in charge of her care at the time. Many of the neighborhood children were also involved in the torture at the direction of the woman. It was later said that neighbors and others had seen and heard things in and around the home but no one had reported anything. There are many who believe those neighbors are just as complicit in Sylvia's death. I have a different stance based on the fact that that was not how people did things back then. People kept to themselves and minded their own business. There was sympathy for the woman before Sylvia's death because she was a single mother with several children of her own as well as two border children (Sylvia and her sister) living with her. I agree that today things would be different, both in the handling of things and with how people reacted to things they saw and heard. I bring this up in this case because while the 1980's were not quite like the 1960's, neither are they the 2000's. We can talk about how fourteen year old “children” are today but they are different than fourteen year old children in 1986.

On November 20, 1986 fourteen year old Shaun Ouillette was lured into a wooded area in Canton Massachusetts by classmate, Rod Matthews. Once in the area Rod beat Shaun with a baseball bat repeatedly upon the head until he was dead. Over the next few days Rod would take at least two other boys to the area and show them the body. In the meantime Shaun's mother had reported him missing and a search was on for him. His body would be found three weeks later, “ravaged by animals.”

It is unclear if the two other boys eventually told what they knew or what exactly led to the arrest of Rod Matthews but he was arrested and charged with murder in December of 1986. He would be the first juvenile in Massachusetts tried as an adult. The prosecutions stance, and apparently rightfully so at the time, was that Rod had stated the motive behind the murder was that he “wanted to see what it would feel like to kill someone.” Prosecutors claimed, through witnesses, that Rod had planned the murder for more than a month although he was unsure who would be his victim.

In March of 1988 Rod Matthews was found guilty of second degree murder. It was said that the reason for the second degree verdict was that the jury felt he should be eligible for parole at some point. Apparently a first degree murder conviction came with a life without parole sentence. To be fair since that time the United States Supreme Court has stated that juveniles could not be subject to the mandatory life without parole rules. However, while cases have gone back to court for review it appears really little has changed since then. At any rate with the second degree conviction Rod was eligible for parole after fifteen years.

Rod was denied parole in 2001 and 2007. In 2001 he was asked if he would be able to resist the urge to take a life again. He admitted openly that he could not guarantee it. A 2012 parole bid was withdrawn but he came up again in 2016. At this point he had apparently received adequate treatment and therapy and answered the question quite differently. Once again he was denied. Jeanne Quinn, Shaun's mother has vowed to do everything she can to keep him in prison until he dies. The prosecutor still called him a “predator.” One thing that I must admit that bothered me was a statement made by the police chief. While he was correct in saying that the parole hearings caused Shaun's family pain and were stressful, he placed the blame for those hearings square on Rod's back. It is true that Rod does not have to apply for parole but it is his legal right to do so and it is part of the legal system. If the police chief wants to be mad that every four to six years he is eligible for parole then blame the system, or the parole board, not the person incarcerated. By law he has the right to these hearings. Rod's eligible for his next hearing in late 2021.

Should Rod Matthews ever be allowed out? As I stated in the beginning, I am torn on that. Part of me feels as if thirty-four years behind bars for someone who went in at fourteen is enough. Another part of me feels as if it would only be enough if he has truly changed, and to be fair that seems to be the case, or at least he's a very good manipulator, something he could learn in prison. But then there is the part of me that looks at the callousness of his attitude at the time he committed the crime and just how heinous the crime was. Reality is that no-one ever knows if someone is truly reformed after committing a crime but that does not mean we should paint everyone with the same brush.

Maybe he is reformed.... maybe he can make something of himself and contribute to society... who knows.