Killer of Holliston, MA police officer released on parole – NBC Boston

A man convicted of killing a Holliston police officer 43 years ago has been released on parole, the Massachusetts town's police chief said Wednesday.

On August 13, 1981, Rolando Jimenez shot and killed Holliston police officer John Johnson. In February 1982, he was found guilty of first-degree murder at a trial in Middlesex Superior Court.

Jimenez was paroled last year, prompting a scathing response from Holliston Police Chief Matthew Stone, who testified against Jimenez's release at his parole hearing in March 2022.

“As a police officer, as a human being and as your police chief, I am disgusted by the parole board's decision to grant parole to inmate Jimenez,” he wrote in a statement at the time.

In a new statement Wednesday, Stone said he had learned that Jimenez was a free man.

Rolando Jimenez was originally sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the murder of Officer John Johnson.

“The decision of the Massachusetts Parole Board to release the murderer of a police officer back into the society he once terrorized is not only incomprehensible, it also defies every morality that is right and just,” Stone wrote.

Display cases in the lobby of the Holliston Police Department display various pictures of Johnson and newspaper clippings detailing his assassination in 1981. The training room to the right of the lobby is named after Johnson and features his portrait. In his memory, an American flag flies over the U.S. capital next to his name in the front center.

“We think about his sacrifice every day,” Officer Jim Garrett told NBC10 Boston last year.

Johnson, who has been with the Holliston Police Department for six years, was on patrol when he spotted a car that had been reported stolen in Natick. While chasing one of the suspected robbers, Johnson was shot with his own service weapon – once during the struggle, twice while he was on the ground, police said.

He was 31 years old, married and had two small children aged 10 and 3.

“He didn't have the chance to live his life, raise his family, see his grandchildren. It's sad,” said Holliston police Lt. Chad Thompson.

Jimenez, then 22, was arrested after a three-hour manhunt involving more than 100 police officers from surrounding communities and the Massachusetts State Police. Jimenez was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder. He was also convicted of theft of a stolen motor vehicle.

At the time, Jimenez denied shooting Johnson. He stated that after the officer grabbed him and lay on top of him, he heard three shots, checked himself to see if he had been hit, saw the officer fall to the ground, became frightened and ran through the woods until he was arrested, according to Massachusetts Parole Board records. A medical examiner testified in court that Johnson was shot in the chest, abdomen and thigh and that his examination found the gun was fired from a distance of no more than six inches. He noted that it was very unlikely that the abdominal wound could have been caused in the manner described by Jimenez.

Jimenez spent over 42 years in prison. He is now 65 years old.

On July 31, 2023, the Massachusetts Parole Board issued a decision granting him parole following Jimenez's March 2022 hearing. The board wrote, “He has participated in and appears to have benefited from rehabilitation programs… He has not received an approved disciplinary report in 20 years. (The) board also notes that he has significant health issues, including a recent history of prostate cancer.”

Jimenez was denied parole five times following previous hearings in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019. During his parole board hearing in 2019, he apologized for the pain and suffering he caused and accepted full responsibility for Johnson's death, according to the parole board's 2020 decision document.