TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- A one-time New Jersey high school chemistry teacher who raped and killed a 7-year-old Brownie Scout in 1973 has been denied parole.
Steve Sandberg Reports
A two-member panel of the state Parole Board declined to release 62-year-old Joseph McGowan after meeting with him for four hours Monday.
``The board members concluded that there continues to exist a substantial likelihood that McGowan would commit a crime if released on parole at this time,'' the board said in a statement. ``Accordingly, the board members denied McGowan's parole release.''
This is the third time the East Jersey State Prison inmate has gone before the parole board. His release was denied previously in 1993 and 1998.
McGowan was convicted of murdering Joan D'Alessandro in Hillsdale, Bergen County. She was raped and strangled after delivering Girl Scout cookies to McGowan, who lived across the street.
The victim's mother, Rosemarie D'Alessandro, who has long advocated for McGowan to remain imprisoned, said she was relieved her daughter's killer won't soon be getting out anytime soon.
She said she was notified of the parole board's determination at 2:50 p.m., the time Joan left the house on April 19, 1973, the day she was killed.
``It stunned me,'' D'Alessandro said of the coincidence.
The family's fight to keep McGowan from being paroled is not over.
The case now goes to three-member parole board panel to determine his next parole eligibility date. D'Alessandro is seeking 35 years, which would keep McGowan from being considered for release for about 20 years.
``This is nowhere near over,'' said Michael D'Alessandro, Joan's 28-year-old brother. ``This is not something our family wants to deal with on a continuous basis.''
Rosemarie D'Alessandro lobbied successfully for state and federal versions of Joan's Law, which eliminate parole eligibility for anyone convicted of murdering a child while committing a sex crime. The laws were enacted too late to affect her case, however.
She gave a victim's impact statement to the board last month and brought an audio tape of her daughter, so parole board members could get a better sense of the little girl's personality.
A 2002 parole hearing found McGowan unwilling to take responsibility for the killing.
Photo: Rosemarie D'Alessandro holds picture of Joan/AP Photo/Mel Evans
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