SPRINGFIELD — In a decision Wednesday, the state’s highest court upheld a conviction for premeditated murder against Nickolas Lacrosse, who killed his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend in 2015.
The court also ruled that Lacrosse’s life sentence without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional.
According to a ruling made by the court earlier this year, adults who committed a crime while under 21 must be given the opportunity for probation. Lacrosse was 20 when he stabbed Kathryn Mauke 32 times.
The Supreme Court ruled that a life sentence without parole for adults under 21 violates the state constitution and constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment,” the court wrote in January.
According to the latest ruling, Lacrosse could be eligible for parole after serving a 30-year prison sentence, the decision said.
“Since Kate’s death in 2015, my office and the Springfield Police Department have sought justice in the form of a conviction and life sentence for the perpetrator of this most cruel and cowardly murder,” Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni said in a statement Thursday.
He objected to the Supreme Court’s decision regarding parole for young adults.
“Along with many families of murder victims across this state,” he said, “I am saddened and frustrated by this decision and how it calls into question the justice already served and shows mercy to those who showed no mercy to the victims of their brutal crimes.”
