CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A man who watched his friend kill an Epsom police officer in 1997 and shot at police cars during a chase afterward was granted parole Thursday.
Kevin Paul, now 36, was 18 when Officer Jeremy Charron was gunned down by Gordon Perry on Aug. 24, 1997 after Charron had checked on their parked car by a swimming hole, where both men were sleeping.
Perry and Paul then drove away, stole a pickup truck and headed north. Paul robbed a store in Campton at gunpoint and shot at pursuing police cars before the two got stuck in the median strip on Interstate 93 in Bethlehem and were arrested.
Paul had pleaded guilty to five charges after making a deal with prosecutors to testify against Perry. But Perry later pleaded guilty to capital murder in exchange for life in prison without parole.
Paul, who had been sentenced to 16 to 50 years in prison, likely will be released next month. As a condition of his parole, he is prohibited from contacting Charron’s family or from entering Epsom, Hillsboro, New Boston or Pittsfield.
The shooting happened early on a Sunday morning, hours after Charron had returned from the funeral of two state troopers killed in Colebrook a few days earlier.
When Perry and Paul were caught, Paul had the gun, and Perry’s lawyers had argued that Paul could just as easily have shot Charron, since there were no other witnesses. At his sentencing hearing in 1998, Paul denied any role in Charron’s death.
“My actions were irresponsible and inexcusable. Nothing that I say today can make things right, but I want people to know that I am truly sorry,” Paul said.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.