A Massachusetts man, incarcerated for more than three decades and recently disciplined for threatening prison staff, was hoping for a second chance outside prison walls.
Jesus Sierra and Santa Montanez had been dating for less than a year when Sierra moved into a Dorchester apartment with Montanez and her 11-year-old daughter.
On March 7, 1992, Sierra, who was 26, stabbed his 34-year-old girlfriend numerous times and strangled her to death. About a year later, he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole and being convicted of murder in the second degree.
On the night of the murder, Sierra arrived home from work around midnight. Around 12:40 a.m., Montanez’s sister, who lived in the apartment below them, heard screaming in her sister’s apartment upstairs. Montanez’s other sister, who lived on the first floor, joined her sister and her husband in checking on Montanez.
The bedroom door in their sister’s apartment was locked, the parole board stated. They called out to ask if everything was okay. Sierra responded that everything was fine and they all went back to their own apartments.
Soon after, Sierra left the house.
The sisters returned to the third floor apartment to check on Montanez. They found their sister had been strangled with an extension cord and stabbed numerous times with a small knife, the parole board stated. She was rushed to Boston City Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The cause of death was determined to be asphyxia and strangulation from a ligature. Montanez’s 11- year-old daughter was asleep when Sierra murdered her mother, the parole board wrote.
The next day, Sierra turned himself in to police and admitted to the crime.
He has spent 33 years in prison and received 91 disciplinary reports. Five of those reports have been since his last parole board hearing in 2022. This included an aggravated assault and threatening staff members, which resulted in his return to a maximum security prison.
Sierra has participated in “significant” programming while incarcerated, the parole board stated in a May decision. However, “his ongoing use of violence reflects his current inability to resolve matters in a pro-social way,” the board wrote.
“Mr. Sierra’s testimony at the hearing reflected a lack of empathy and remorse,” the parole board wrote. “The Board encourages Mr. Sierra to continue to invest his time with programming that addresses his issues with violence and to remain disciplinary report free.”
He has faced the parole board five times since 2007. He last went in front of them on Feb. 6.
During the February hearing, the parole board heard testimony from Montanez’s brother and Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Montez Haywood, who are both against parole.
It was a unanimous decision by the parole board that Sierra “has not demonstrated a level of rehabilitation that would make his release compatible with the welfare of society.”
He will have another opportunity for a parole board hearing in three years.
