Jamie Fuller is today in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Correction, still serving a life sentence for the 1991 stabbing murder of his 14-year-old girlfriend, Amy Carnevale, in Beverly. He was 16 at the time of the killing and originally received life without the possibility of parole, but a 2013 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling made that sentence unconstitutional for juvenile offenders and gave him the right to seek parole. At his most recent hearing, the victim’s family, the Essex County District Attorney’s Office, and the Beverly Police Department all pushed to keep him locked up, and he remains incarcerated.
How a Life-Without-Parole Sentence Became Reviewable
For more than twenty years, Fuller’s sentence looked permanent. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Miller v. Alabama that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for people under 18 at the time of their crime violate the Eighth Amendment.1Justia. Diatchenko v. District Attorney for the Suffolk District, 466 Mass. 655
Massachusetts went further the next year. In December 2013, in Diatchenko v. District Attorney for the Suffolk District, the state’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled that both mandatory and discretionary life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders are unconstitutional under Article 26 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. The court reasoned that because a juvenile’s brain is not fully developed, no judge can conclude “with any reasonable degree of certainty” that a young offender is beyond rehabilitation. The decision applied retroactively, so inmates sentenced as juveniles, including Fuller, became eligible for parole review while continuing to serve their life terms.2Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Criminal Sentencing – Life Without Parole – Juvenile
The Parole Hearing and the Opposition to His Release
Fuller, 46 by the time of the hearing, appeared before the Massachusetts Parole Board in Natick in a session that ran about four hours.3The Salem News. Family Speaks Out Against Parole for Convicted Killer
Amy Carnevale’s father, Michael Carnevale, addressed Fuller directly: “My daughter is dead. He’s still alive.” Her cousin, Jennifer Boisvert, refused to say Fuller’s name and used only his inmate number, called the parole process “cruel,” and said the prospect of release “makes us physically sick.” Boisvert testified that the murder had caused “generational trauma” and contributed to the 2008 death of Amy’s mother. Amy’s stepmother, Laura Carnevale, called Fuller a “monster” who “deserves to be locked up forever.”3The Salem News. Family Speaks Out Against Parole for Convicted Killer
The Essex County District Attorney’s Office sent Deputy First Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Faitella, who described Fuller as a “cold, calculated, narcissistic killer,” placed two framed photos of Amy on the desk, and walked through the brutality of the attack. The DA’s office and the Beverly Police Department both submitted formal letters opposing parole. Beverly Police Chief John LeLacheur and Captain Michael Devine, who had worked the original 1991 case, attended in person.3The Salem News. Family Speaks Out Against Parole for Convicted Killer
Fuller’s side put on witnesses too. His aunt, Julie Nelson, spoke on his behalf, and Robert Kinscherff of the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital testified in support of release. The Parole Board said after the hearing that a decision would likely take several weeks. The board’s ruling on that most recent hearing had not been publicly reported as of the available record.3The Salem News. Family Speaks Out Against Parole for Convicted Killer
The 1991 Murder and the Conviction That Put Him There
On August 22, 1991, Fuller killed Amy Carnevale, a 14-year-old cheerleader from Beverly, in a wooded area near Shoe Pond. Prosecutors said the motive was jealousy and Carnevale’s pregnancy. Trial testimony described Fuller stabbing her in the stomach, slashing her throat as she tried to flee, and then stepping on her throat.4UPI. Witnesses Tell of Girl’s Murder He then enlisted a 19-year-old friend, Michael Maillet, to help weight the body with cinder blocks and dump it in Shoe Pond. In the days that followed, Fuller joined search parties and sat in her parents’ car as they looked for their missing daughter.3The Salem News. Family Speaks Out Against Parole for Convicted Killer
Fuller was tried as an adult in Essex County Superior Court. The defense argued that his use of anabolic steroids and alcohol left him legally insane, and the jury rejected it, returning a first-degree murder verdict on October 24, 1992 after a little over six hours of deliberation across two days. Judge Patti Saris imposed the mandatory sentence of life without parole.5UPI. Teen Body Builder Guilty in Cheerleader’s Death That is the sentence Fuller is still serving today, now reviewable under Diatchenko but, more than three decades in, not yet lifted.