By Susannah Sudborough
masslive.com
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Parole Board voted Monday to deny parole to a man convicted of murdering a state trooper during a traffic stop in 1983.
On April 4, 1985, a Worcester County Superior Court jury found Jose Colon, now 63, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Trooper George Hanna. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole — the mandatory sentence for all defendants convicted of this charge in Massachusetts.
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Colon became newly eligible for parole in January 2024 as a result of a ruling by the state’s highest court. The Supreme Judicial Court ruled it unconstitutional to sentence defendants who were 18 to 20 at the time of the offense to life in prison without parole, citing recent research suggesting the brain doesn’t finish developing until age 25.
Colon was 20 at the time of Hanna’s murder. He has served 43 years in state prison.
On Monday, the parole board unanimously voted to deny Colon parole. His application for parole is set to be reviewed in three years.
“More than four decades after Trooper George Hanna was brutally murdered while serving and protecting the people of Massachusetts , his loss continues to be felt by his family, fellow law enforcement officers and communities across our state,“ Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement.
”Today’s decision recognizes the magnitude of that loss and provides some measure of relief to those who have fought to ensure his memory is never forgotten.”
Hanna’s murder
Hanna was killed on Feb. 26, 1983, after he pulled over Colon, Miguel Rosado and Abimael Colon-Cruz , who were planning to rob a Worcester -area liquor store at gunpoint. The trooper initiated the traffic stop around 8:30 p.m. and directed the men to park in a liquor store parking lot.
Hanna ordered the men to get out of the car and began frisking them. A struggle broke out, and Colon shot Hanna several times. The three men then stole the trooper’s gun and drove away.
Hanna was shot seven times during the incident. A witness provided medical aid to the trooper until first responders arrived at the scene. Paramedics took Hanna to a hospital where he died a short time later.
A second witness provided investigators with the registration number of the suspects’ car. A third tailed the suspects’ car after the murder.
Later that evening, investigators found the suspects’ car and traced it back to an apartment. Colon-Cruz and Rosado were soon arrested during a traffic stop.
Investigators found Hanna’s revolver and three other handguns inside the car. Police later located Colon at a different apartment and arrested him.
While awaiting trial in Hanna’s murder, Colon was found guilty in an armed robbery at a furniture store that happened less than a month before the killing. About a year after Colon was convicted in Hanna’s murder, he was found guilty of trafficking cocaine to other inmates in prison.
The parole board’s decision
Colon appeared before the Massachusetts Parole Board for the first time during his hearing on Jan. 15, 2026.
At the hearing, Colon asserted that he has been sober for 30 years. But the board challenged his testimony based on open disciplinary reports from prison, some of which alleged suspected drug use.
The board also considered Colon’s accounts of crimes he has been found guilty of, including his denial that he robbed the furniture store at gunpoint. Furthermore, though Colon accepted responsibility for killing Hanna and appeared remorseful, he maintained that he closed his eyes before firing at the trooper and had no intention of harming or killing Hanna.
“The Board found his version of the murder of Trooper Hanna to lack full accountability,” the board wrote in its decision.
The board noted that Colon had not been offered much rehabilitation programming prior to the Supreme Judicial Court decision that made him eligible for parole. Even so, an evaluation of his risk of reoffending determined that he was likely to commit a future crime.
“The Board finds that [Colon] is in need of treatment to address his history of trauma and other precipitants he has identified as contributing factors leading to his offending behavior,” it wrote.
During the hearing, Hanna’s family, Massachusetts State Police Colonel Geoffrey Noble and Worcester County Assistant District Attorney Jesse Crane testified in opposition to granting Colon parole. Gov. Healey also sent the board a letter opposing Colon’s release prior to the hearing.
“The Board recommends that Mr. Colon address the concerns of the Board, specifically related to accountability and treatment needs,” it wrote.
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