Published: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 7:26 AM Updated: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 7:26 AM
Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau
Department of Corrections
Kelvin Terry.
TRENTON — Kelvin Terry had been out of prison about 15 months before he asked the New Jersey Parole Board for permission to visit his wife and daughter in West Palm Beach, Fla. His parole officer wrote in her report that she "did not foresee any problem."
But a parole spokesman admits the officer didn’t look far enough into Terry’s past to make a critical connection: Terry’s estranged wife and daughter had been two of the five people he held hostage at gunpoint in South Orange in the 1997 incident that sent him to prison.
Without that knowledge, parole officers approved Terry’s trip in May, allowing him to travel 1,200 miles to visit his original victims without supervision — with devastating consequences.
Terry stabbed his wife several times with a butcher knife May 27, according to West Palm Beach police. His wife survived the attack, and he is charged with attempted murder.
Parole Board spokesman Neal Buccino said the parole officers were apparently not aware Terry had previously victimized his wife and daughter, and the matter is under review. He said officers should evaluate travel requests based on the "totality of the circumstances," including victim information.
"That knowledge would have raised additional concerns and led to further questions," Buccino said.
Todd Clear, dean of the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice and an expert on issues involving former inmates, said parole officers should know basic details of offenders’ original crimes. "That sounds like a huge mistake," he said. "This sounds like a situation that could have been prevented."
Chyrell Terry had obtained a restraining order against her husband in 1997. Two days after receiving the order, he went with a gun to her South Orange apartment and held her, his daughter and three others hostage. One shot was fired into a wall, police said. No one was injured, and Terry surrendered.
He served nearly nine years in prison for crimes including kidnapping, weapons possession, criminal restraint and making terroristic threats. Terry finished his sentence in November 2008 and was placed under parole supervision in Newark.
Yencie DeJesus, an officer for almost six years, began supervising Terry in June 2009. Her reports said he was meeting all his parole requirements by showing up for his appointments, finishing mental health counseling and always testing negative for drugs.
"There were no red flags," said Parole Board Capt. Anne McGrath, DeJesus’ commanding officer,
In February, Terry, 52, asked to leave the state to attend his daughter’s high school graduation in Florida. DeJesus and a supervisor, Sgt. Brian O’Neill, approved the trip, indicating Terry would stay with his wife and daughter, records show.
McGrath said that officers never spoke directly to Chyrell Terry to confirm the trip but that DeJesus overheard a phone call between her and Terry. "The wife was actually requesting his presence in Florida," McGrath said.
Buccino said parole officers, in addition to conducting a "thorough review that would include the full details of the crime, existing psychological evaluations and any other relevant information," should speak directly with victims who are involved in a parolee’s travel plans. He said victim information for each person under parole supervision is available at the agency’s central office if it isn’t included in files given to parole officers.
Speaking by telephone from her Florida home, Chyrell Terry told The Star-Ledger she never talked to anyone from the Parole Board about the trip. She did not respond to further requests for comment.
DeJesus did not return phone calls. O’Neill declined comment.
Richard Pompelio, a victims-rights advocate, said law enforcement always needs to make victims a priority. "That should have been the first question on the parole officer’s list," he said. "Who are the victims? Where are the victims?"
CALM BEFORE THE RAGE
Terry flew to West Palm Beach on May 22 and spent a few days in his wife’s apartment, according to parole and police reports. Chyrell Terry, 40, later told police her husband talked about getting back together, but she rejected the idea. Still, she said things were calm until May 27, according to the police report.
That morning she found Terry in the bathroom with a butcher knife, the report said. She told police he pulled her in and began stabbing her over and over.
Their daughter tried to intervene, then ran from the apartment after Terry threatened to kill her, the report said. Chyrell Terry lay still on the floor, hoping Terry would think she was dead. He stopped and left the room, but not before stabbing her in the neck, chest, shoulder, leg and hands, the report said.
Terry was outside with blood on his shirt and pants when police arrived. When he saw the marked police car, he "laid down on the pavement and put his hands behind his back," the report said.
Terry was placed in the patrol car and yelled, "Did I kill my wife?" according to the report. He later offered to plead guilty if he could be put to death, and claimed to have a mental disorder.
Chyrell Terry was in intensive care until June 2, the report said. Terry was charged with attempted murder and is being held in a Florida jail, according to the Palm Beach County state attorney’s office. Assistant Public Defender Jennifer Marshall said he pleaded not guilty.
In a statement, New Jersey Parole Board chairwoman Yolette Ross expressed "her deepest sympathies to the victims of this violent crime and to their loved ones, on behalf of the entire agency." Buccino would not say if any disciplinary action is being taken against officers involved.
The Parole Board does not track statistics on out-of-state trips, but McGrath said crimes during such trips are rare.
McGrath said officers have to balance competing interests when former inmates seek to reconnect with families they once victimized. The officers need to protect the victims, but, she said, "the public becomes more safe if the person becomes reintegrated with his family. And that comes with family contact."
Clear, the Rutgers dean, said there were "strikingly good reasons for being careful" in this case.
"The best predictor of relapse is going back to the situation that led to prison in the first place," he said.
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