BY BRUNO MATARAZZO JR.
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
WATERBURY — The state parole board commended efforts by William Morales and Angelina Jamele on their rehabilitation in prison but ultimately decided to deny their parole based on the murders they committed.
Contributed
Both teens at the time of the separate killings, they can reapply for parole in two years.
Jamele has served 13 of 23 years in prison so far. She pleaded guilty in 2011 to killing her grandmother, Italia Liguori, in 2009 in Naugatuck. She was 17 at the time.
Morales, 46, has served 27 years so far for the 1994 murder of Andrew Scott in Watertown. Morales was 16 when he shot and killed Scott in his home because he was told to do so by his brother. Scott and Morales’ brother dealt drugs, and there was concern Scott would confess to the police. The victim’s body was left in the apartment for two days with the victim’s 2-year-old daughter, who tended to her father and even put a blanket over him.
Day care workers, concerned when the child didn’t show up, went to the home and discovered the child and Scott’s remains.
Both had their sentences reduced by a few years through commutations this year. The commutations allowed them to apply for parole through Public Act 15-84.
The law, passed in 2015, allows inmates to become eligible for parole after having served 60% of their sentence.
The parole board applauded Morales’ efforts to obtain his high school diploma and work inside the prison, but questioned his statements that he did not know the victim’s daughter was in the home at the time he killed Scott.
Morales’ statements during the state’s June 23 hearing conflicted with what he told police.
“So your statement (to police) that you heard Andy talking to his daughter when you came in isn’t accurate?” one board member asked.
“No. … I didn’t type up those statements. I only signed (them),” Morales replied.
Morales apologized for Scott’s murder and the trauma he caused Scott’s family and daughter, but his claim he did not know she was in the home appeared to doom his chances. The daughter has since been adopted and could not be located by the parole board to offer a statement.
Deputy Assistant State’s Attorney Thai Chhay opposed parole, saying he had “major issues” with what Morales said.
“I find the defendant today to be highly, highly not credible for so many reasons,” Chhay said.
Morales’ attorney, Sharon Elias, said her client has become an honest and trustworthy individual, and said there is nothing left for the state Department of Correction to do to help him.
Regarding Jamele, board members said she made efforts to work on herself and address the trauma she experienced before the murder, but they had questions about her mental health and not taking a particular drug treatment program offered at the prison.
Jamele has been sober for 14 years since being in prison.
The board then went into executive session to ask confidential questions.
One board member said mental health is a big concern because it was presented as the crux of Jamele’s crime.
Jamele told board members a social worker who previously counseled her in prison plans to take her on as a client after her release. She also noted the benefits therapy has had on her rehabilitation.
One of the three board members supported Jamele’s parole, but the other two did not.
