CLEVELAND — Jose Rivera was 17 years old when he stabbed and beat a 16-year-old to death in 2001. Thanks to a change in state law, he's eligible for parole this month, but the family of the victim, still pained by the death, is fighting to keep Rivera behind bars.
A year and a half after a state law change paved a road to possible freedom for people imprisoned for crimes committed when they were juveniles, an analysis of state records shows 14 eligible inmates have been paroled.
Ohio Senate Bill 256 went into effect April 12, 2021.
The law revised the parole eligibility requirements for teens who were locked up for crimes committed before they were 18 years old. In all, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said 269 inmates met the criteria at the time the law took effect.
Rivera was one of them.
Rivera was 17 years old when police said he stabbed and beat 16-year-old Randall Ulery with a board on Cleveland’s near west side in September 2001.
Christopher Fisher, who was 12 years old at the time, watched his big brother die.
“I put myself in his mind all of the time, like what he went through,” said Fisher. “That will mess you up. That will mess you up for sure.”
Fisher looked up to his big brother. Four years older, the two were nearly inseparable.
“I had no idea that murdering somebody was even possible at 12 years old,” said Fisher. “That’s how sheltered I was as a young kid.”
Fisher said the deadly attack began when Rivera punched his brother as Ulery rode his bike. When Ulery turned to defend himself, Fisher said Rivera plunged a kitchen knife into Ulery’s chest.
Ulery, who loved to run track, ran down the street, but Rivera caught up to him and beat him in the head with a board, according to prosecutors.
As Ulery collapsed, Fisher said he watched his brother’s killer turn and walk away.
“I remember that look in his eye,” said Fisher, “it was like he felt accomplished. He felt tough. He felt untouchable.”
But he wasn’t. Rivera was arrested and charged with murder.
He cut a plea deal and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
“He was in custody and that was it,” said Fisher. “I thought I would never have to hear about him ever, ever again.”
What the 12-year-old Fisher didn’t realize was Rivera would be eligible for parole. Five years ago, he and his family fought successfully to keep Rivera behind bars. But Senate Bill 256 granted Rivera another chance at parole this month.
“That was like a knife in my chest to hear early parole,” said Fisher.
In an April 2021 interview, the bill’s co-sponsor, former Ohio State Senator Peggy Lehner, said the intent of the law was to give inmates hope.
“If you’re never going to walk out the door of a prison, if you’re never going to have a chance to go back to school, or get a job, raise a family, or any of those things, there’s not a whole lot of point to doing rehabilitation,” said Lehner, a Republican from Montgomery County.
In a 2017 letter to his judge, Rivera made a case for his release. He said he earned his GED in prison, and said he has grown, matured and accepted responsibility for his actions.
“I could not be sorrier for what happened,” wrote Rivera. “I tore apart a family. Randall’s family and community will never know what kind of man he could have been.”
It’s a family that Fisher said hasn’t been the same since Ulery’s death.
Now he’s more determined than ever to make sure his brother’s killer doesn’t use a change in the law to walk out of prison a free man.
“He doesn’t get to speak for himself,” said Fisher. “He doesn’t get to go in front of the parole board. His voice was taken from him. He didn’t get a choice. I have a choice. I have a choice to fight to keep him behind bars. Jose Rivera deserves to stay in jail forever.”
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office is also fighting Rivera’s parole.
In a letter to the state parole board, an assistant prosecutor called Ulery’s murder, “nothing less than senseless” and said releasing Rivera would create a risk to public safety.
Rivera’s parole hearing is scheduled for Oct. 26.
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