ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — A convicted Conyers killer could get out of prison in a matter of weeks, and family members of the woman murdered said the state parole board failed to warn them.
“He said when he got out, he would finish what he started,” Amber Lett-Hammond told Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco.
Her aunt was Shirley McKnight. This year marked 30 years since her murder on their family property.
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McKnight’s sister, Melba McKnight-Lett, described the terror of that night in 1994.
“Stab wounds all in her hands, over 46, trying to fight him off. I know she was scared, terrified,” McKnight-Lett said.
In 1996, a jury found her boyfriend, Joseph Monroe, guilty of stabbing her to death.
He’s serving a life sentence at Coffee Correctional Facility.
Since he committed the offense before 1995, he was eligible for parole after serving seven years in prison, according to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Each time Monroe has been up for parole, the McKnight family said they’ve received letters in the mail informing each one of them that they could write letters of concern to the board.
That is, until this year.
Members of the McKnight family said they have not received notices in the mail, and the parole board tentatively approved Monroe’s parole in September.
The family knows that because McKnight’s niece received an e-mail informing her of the decision.
The letter asked that she send an objection letter by Oct. 14 if she has concerns with that decision.
“What if I didn’t have that e-mail address anymore? What if I didn’t look at that e-mail?” Lett-Hammond said. “How are we supposed to know?”
She described reading the letter to her mother. “I read the letter, and my mother collapsed on the floor,” Lett-Hammond said.
She said no one else in the family received letters in the mail or e-mails notifying them of the parole consideration.
She said she immediately called the parole board and spent hours working with a staff member to send the notice to family members via e-mail.
She spent days notifying other family members, collecting their objection letters, and sending them to the parole board through the mail and through e-mail.
Then, she confirmed the board received each one.
Now that they’ve had time to work through that, the McKnight family is worried about other violent crime survivors.
“I’m just wondering if it has happened before because this is scary,” McKnight-Lett said.
A parole board spokesperson said staff are investigating to find out why the family has not received the notice in the mail.
The board said if a survivor is registered with the Georgia Office of Victim Services, they should receive letters in the mail asking them to send objection letters within 20 days.
In serious, violent cases, the board said it would accept letters of concern for a 90-day period.
In the McKnight family’s case, they should have until Dec. 20 to submit letters to the parole board.
The e-mail McKnight’s niece received did not explain that.
The board said a county’s district attorney should also receive a notice 90 days before the objection leader deadline.
Channel 2 has reached out to the Rockdale County District Attorney’s Office to find out if prosecutors received a notification in the McKnight family’s case yet. We are waiting to hear back.
“I want the process to change,” Lett-Hammond said.
Plus, the other family members said they have still not received their notifications in the mail.
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“The process that they have in place is flawed,” Lett-Hammond said.
While staff at the parole board are investigating their family’s case, they want other families to check.
If you survived a violent crime, you can call 404-651-6668 to confirm your address, e-mail, and your preferred method of communication with the office of victim services.
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