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Law

Parole rejected for rapist who lived as jet-set fugitive

From Laura Dolan
CNN

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Connecticut
Sex Crimes

STAMFORD, Connecticut (CNN) -- A parole board in Connecticut rejected a request for release from convicted rapist Alex Kelly, who fled authorities and remained a fugitive for eight years before his capture.

"The board has found that your release is incompatible with the welfare of society due to the violent nature and circumstances of your instant offenses and the lasting impact on the victims and their families," said Gregory Everett, chairman of the Connecticut state Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Kelly is serving a 16-year sentence, but the Connecticut Department of Corrections said it will be reduced for good behavior. If he maintains his good conduct, he will be released in May 2008. There will be no more parole hearings.

Connecticut abolished getting time off for good behavior in October of 1994, but because Kelly's crime was committed before that rule change -- in 1986 -- he still qualifies.

Kelly reacted to the parole denial with some surprise, saying, "So there are no more parole hearings?" After Everett confirmed that, Kelly said, "Why did we come here? This was a waste of time."

The former fugitive was convicted of rape in 1997. After being sentenced, he pleaded no contest to raping another Connecticut woman.

At the parole hearing Kelly addressed his victims, saying, "I can't even fathom what I caused in their lives. I've thought about it for years, for decades ... but I will never fully fathom it. But I will never let myself forget it, either. And I pray for them every night."

His victims, Adrienne Bak and Hillary Buchanan, also addressed the parole board, asking that he remain in jail.

After the hearing Bak, with Buchanan standing beside her, told reporters, "The one thing that we both heard that was missing was he never actually admitted that he raped us."

She added, "I don't know how he could expect that they would let him out and he would get therapy and it would be any help if he's not going to admit the crime."

Kelly fled the country on the eve of his originally scheduled trial in 1987 and remained an international fugitive until his 1995 surrender in Switzerland.

Supported by his parents, he spent those eight years in Europe, hiding out in mainly chic ski resorts.

His first trial ended in a hung jury. In the retrial, which ended in March 1997, the jury convicted Kelly of rape.


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