MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Members of a Vermont legislative committee are blasting the state's parole system for paroling a convicted murderer to serve a separate federal sentence, and then using a fabricated arrest warrant to get him back into state custody when the federal sentence was done.
Douglas Mason was serving a 15 to 30-year sentence for second-degree murder when state parole officials paroled him for purposes of serving a 3-year federal prison term for threatening the judge who presided over his murder trial.
Vermont wanted to get the federal sentence out of the way so that Mason would be eligible to participate in treatment programs as he later finished his state sentence.
But to get him back, state officials issued a fabricated probation violation and arrest warrant. Lawmakers are calling that reprehensible and possibly criminal.
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