A convicted first-degree murderer who killed a convenience store owner in front of her 7-year-old daughter has been granted parole.

The Massachusetts Parole Board is releasing Rolando Rodriguez who was 18 when he stabbed 32-year-old Kenia Melo to death while trying to rob her Chelsea convenience store in 1997.

Rodriguez a year later was convicted in Suffolk Superior Court of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But he became eligible for parole after last year’s Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s decision — when the SJC ruled it’s unconstitutional to sentence emerging adults (18 to 20 years old) to life in prison without parole.

Then earlier this year, Rodriguez appeared before the state’s parole board for an initial hearing

See Full Page