NATICK – Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said that the state parole board has granted parole to an adult man convicted of first-degree murder in connection with a 1997 fatal shooting in Brockton.
In a Parole Board decision dated November 18, our office was advised yesterday that 47-year-old Allen Alston — formerly known as Allen Scoggins — will be released to a Long-Term Residential Program after 90 days in minimum security. The Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office testified against Alston’s release at his parole board hearing on July 2nd.
On May 16, 1997, Alston, then 19, shot and killed 56-year-old Ismael Rivera in Brockton. Rivera, a taxi driver, picked up Alston on Wyman Street just after 1:00 a.m. that morning. Alston was seen entering Rivera’s vehicle and eventually shooting him before fleeing on foot. Alston was captured in North Charleston, South Carolina, roughly 5 months after the deadly shooting, and he admitted to killing Rivera.
After a jury trial in December 1998, Alston was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release. However, in 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Commonwealth v. Mattis that a life sentence without the possibility of parole is unlawful when applied to “emerging adults” aged 18 to 20. As a result of this ruling, Alston qualified for a parole hearing.
