Official Mass. Parole Board patch. Mass.Gov/

A man serving life in prison for fatally stabbing another man during an argument over pills in Salem in 1980 has been granted parole , records show.

The state Parole Board voted Sept. 17 to grant release to John Almon, who was convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing Paul Legere to death on March 18, 1980, according to the ruling.

A first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory life term without the possibility of parole. However, Almon became parole-eligible after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled last year that life sentences with no chance at parole for defendants aged 18 to 20 at the time of their crimes are unconstitutional.

The ruling did not provide Almon’s age when he committed the slaying, nor did it say how old Leger

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