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Council Approves Nominees To Mass. Parole Board

The Governor's Council on Wednesday confirmed Gov. Deval Patrick's four nominees to the embattled state Parole Board, but two of them required tie-breaking votes by Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray.

The board has been in turmoil since December, when Woburn police officer John Maguire was shot and killed by Dominic Cinelli, a career criminal who was paroled by the board in 2008.

The council voted 5-4 to approve the nominations of Lucy Soto-Abbe, a victims' advocate in the Hampden District Attorney's Office, and John Bocon, a former chief federal probation officer.

Patrick presided over the meeting so that Murray could cast the tie-breaking votes.

The vote was contentious, as dissenting councilors called the nominees inexperienced.

"Replacing experienced people who made a tragic mistake with inexperienced people is a recipe for more tragic mistakes," said Mary Ellen Manning, one of the dissenting councilors whose votes caused Murray to break the two ties.

Ina Howard-Hogan, a lawyer for the Parole Board, was confirmed on a 6-3 vote and Charlene Bonner, a forensic psychologist, was approved 8-1.

With reporting from The Associated Press and WBUR's David Boeri.

Earlier:

This program aired on March 30, 2011. The audio for this program is not available.

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