Man sent away for life without parole for North End double murder gets chance to argue for parole

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that Louis Costa deserves the chance to convince a judge he should have a chance at parole for the 1986 execution-style murder of two men in a North End park because he was only 16 at the time.

The state's highest court said Costa's case falls under the provisions of its 2013 ruling that adolescents cannot be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole because that would constitute cruel and unusual punishment due to the way the adolescent brain develops.

Costa was sentenced in 1994 to two consecutive life terms for murder on the joint-venture theory - he did not pull the trigger, but played an active role in the deaths of Joseph John Bottari and Frank Angelo Chiuchiolo, each of whom were shot repeatedly in the head. Two adults were sentenced to life without parole.

The ruling means that Costa can ask a lower-court judge to consider changing his sentence to two concurrent life terms, which means he would be eligible for parole immediately, because state law makes parole at least a possibility after 15 years in such cases. The court noted Costa's basic argument at such a hearing:

Here, the defendant wishes to offer at a resentencing hearing evidence that he has maintained a perfect disciplinary record since his sentencing in 1994, that he has earned a college degree while incarcerated, and that he has founded and led the
Restorative Justice Program, which seeks to foster reconciliation between prisoners and their victims' families. The defendant contends that this record of accomplishment is all the more compelling given that, for most of the time he has been
incarcerated, he had no hope of ever receiving parole. We agree that information concerning the defendant's postsentencing conduct, whether favorable or unfavorable, and whether offered by the defendant or by the Commonwealth, properly may be
presented and considered at the resentencing hearing.