After nearly 44 years and seven parole board hearings starting in 1996, a Massachusetts nurse’s family continues waiting for her killer to take accountability — reliving the pain in hopes to hear remorse.
“… they wanted to hear remorse from you. They wanted to hear an acknowledgement that you did something wrong. They had been to six hearings, and they really wanted to hear that,” one of the parole board members told Matthew Farley during a hearing on April 9. “Yes, a lot has been wrong for you. There is no question about that, but you have also had some behaviors which have caused people pain.”
But once again, Farley gave them nothing — and on Monday, the parole board denied his request for release, citing his high risk to reoffend, more than 50 disciplinary reports and his defiance when urged to accept responsibility and participate in rehabilitation.
“Never gonna happen,” he told the parole board in April when asked if he can make the changes the parole board is asking for.
Still, the board set his next review for two years, not five, in the hope that he might return with a rehabilitation plan and legal counsel.
March 14, 1981
Deborah Smith was in her apartment taking a nap around 1 p.m. on March 14, 1981 when Farley and Weldon Burden broke into her apartment.
Farley claims that Burden chased the nurse into the bathroom, where he grabbed her by the hair, hit her, demanded money, ripped off her jeans with a knife and then proceeded to rape and stab her, according to a 2014 parole board decision.
Meanwhile, Farley states he stole jewelry, a camera, a stereo and other valuables. They then both fled the apartment.
Farley said he later returned to their apartment, where Burden met him at the door, stating “I killed the [expletive].”
“Help me, help me — I’ve been raped,” Deborah Smith said as she was found moaning after calling 911, UPI reported.
The Beth Israel Hospital nurse later died due to a stab wound cut through her liver and aorta, causing a massive hemorrhage.
The men said they chose the apartment because they didn’t think anyone was home. When they discovered Smith, Farley said he told Burden to place her in the closet.
But he didn’t know Burden was raping her, Farley claimed during a parole board hearing April 9.
“I was gone,” Farley said, adding that he was on the other side of the street by the time that happened.
But Burden said something similar during his own trial, blaming Farley for the rape. Either way, the family claims the apartment was too small to not know “that someone was being raped and killed,” according to the parole board.
In 1981, Farley pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Suffolk Superior Court. He also pleaded guilty to armed robbery, armed assault in a dwelling, and breaking and entering in the daytime.
Nearly 44 years later, Farley, currently in MCI-Shirley, isn’t changing what he said happened that night.
“I used to steal for a living. That’s what I did for a living, and that’s what I did that day,” Farley told the parole board. “I was not murdering anyone. I was not raping anyone. I’ve never done that. It’s never crossed my mind.”
Farley was first up for parole in 1996. This year was his seventh parole board hearing.
Difficult childhood
Farley has had to “endure things that no child should have to endure, and those things have had a significant impact on you,” the parole board said during the April 9 hearing.
Farley is one of 13 children. He first began stealing around the age of 9 and was seriously injured around this age after crashing a stolen car. His criminal record begins at the age of 11.
Farley dropped out of school in the seventh grade. He was sent to a reform school or juvenile facility known as the Hayden School for Boys, which is where he met Burden.
By the time he was arrested for this murder at 18, he had had 23 juvenile arraignments and 32 adult arraignments. He had been found guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in 1979.
He was sent to Souza Baranowski Correctional Center, a maximum security facility in Massachusetts, at age 18, which added to his trauma, the parole board stated.
“Your prison time has been incredibly difficult,” the parole board stated. “You came into prison at the age of 18 in one of the most violent prisons in the country at that time, with arguably the most dangerous offense in terms of the prison culture, the hierarchy, victimization, vulnerabilities.”
He’s received 267 disciplinary reports, and 54 of them are since his last hearing. He’s currently in segregation for his mental health and continues to have issues with the synthetic marijuana called K2.
However, he stopped getting mental health treatment due to claims of abuse.
Now, he’s asking for parole again because he feels that the sentence he received is “disproportionate” to the harm that he caused, agreeing that it makes him angry.
But the parole board hopes he can continue working on himself, focusing on what he can control and tackling deep issues.
“We need you to move from focusing all of your energy on fighting what’s been happening and what’s old, and focus that energy on building anew, doing what you can that’s in your control,” the board stated.
The board compared his brain to having the survival mode of a soldier who has PTSD.
“I think that you have been conditioned, over the course of your life, to respond very quickly. It’s survival mode,” the board said. “You go from zero to 60 without thinking. You don’t pause.”
The board admitted prison isn’t the ideal place for healing, which is why Farley is asking for parole to go to a treatment program.
But the board doesn’t feel a treatment program will be beneficial until he has taken further steps in his mental health treatment and isn’t abusing drugs.
“The emotion you’re experiencing is valid. The rage, the anger, the frustration, that emotion is valid,” one parole board member stated. “Your response to the emotion is what is causing the problem. So, we need you to be able to recognize the emotion and then think about a different response to get your needs met.”
In a unanimous decision, the board decided Farley is still in need of further rehabilitation and his release is not compatible with the welfare of society.
The board still feels hopeful Farley can make the necessary changes to turn his life around, even if that takes a few more years.
“I don’t want you to continue to allow this system to imprison you. I want you to take ownership over your own life, and I’m going to leave you with some hope,” a parole board member said. “You came into this prison system unable to read or write, and you got your GED. You can do hard things, sir.”
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