The family of murdered Chattanooga police Sgt. Tim Chapin stands in front of a memorial honoring officers who have died in the line of duty. From left are mother Linda Chapin, father Ralph Chapin, and sister Laura Chapin. Chapin served 27 years on the police force until he was shot and killed on April 2, 2011. Jesse Mathews of Colorado is accused of killing Chapin.
Photo by Andrew McMurtrie/The Denver PostJesse Ray Mathews had served a little more than seven years of a 20-year prison sentence for armed robbery when his request to be released was denied early last year.
But it took only six more months of good behavior and Mathews’ completion of a course in Microsoft Word to change the mind of a majority of the community corrections board. By October, board members had voted to release him to a halfway house – a decision that would have disastrous consequences 1,300 miles away.
Mathews now faces the death penalty in the shooting death of 51-year-old Chattanooga Police Sgt. Tim Chapin. Mathews’ arrest in the April 2 crime, which police and prosecutors say occurred while he was robbing a pawnshop, has cast a harsh light on Colorado’s system of transitioning inmates from prison to freedom.
Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti said Mathews’ early release was by the book, and that compared to other inmates, Mathews was a well-behaved prisoner who was eligible by state statute for a less-restrictive setting.
Chapin’s family, meanwhile, calls Mathews’ release – coupled with a 2003 plea deal in which Mathews was allowed to plead guilty to just one of 31 charges – an injustice.