Tavares to get life in prison, rather than the death penalty
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
His own father wanted him executed, calling him "pure evil.'' But Daniel T. Tavares Jr. has reached a plea deal with Washington prosecutors that will allow him to avoid the death penalty.
Prosecutors said today at a news conference that Tavares, 41, who was accused of jumping bail in Massachusetts and traveling to Washington where he killed a young couple, will plead guilty to the two murders and waive all of his rights to an appeal, in exchange for a sentence of life in prison.
Pierce County prosecutor Gerald Horne said that the families of Tavares's victims, Brian and Beverly Mauck, plan to push for legislation that would require law enforcement officials to alert their counterparts in other states whenever a "dangerously violent person'' moves out of their jurisdiction.
Beverly Mauck's mother, Karen Slater, said the families are still investigating the breakdown in Massachusetts that allowed Tavares to be set loose on an unsuspecting public in Washington, without notification to his new neighbors or the local police.
"This never would have happened if Beverly and Brian were notifed that this crazy person was living in their neighborhood," Slater said. "I think they would not have befriended him, as they befriended everyone, if they knew he had killed his mother."
Tavares, who had been convicted of hacking his mother to death with a carving knife in her Somerset home in 1991, wrapped up his 17- to 20-year sentence in June and was about to be released when he was charged with assaulting two correction officers.
A judge released him on personal recognizance on the assault charges in July, even though he had threatened to kill his own father, former Governor Mitt Romney and other public officials while in prison.
Three days later, Tavares fled to Washington to marry a woman he met through an online dating service while in prison. Massachusetts state police discovered Tavares's whereabouts and sought a nationwide warrant for his arrest, but the Worcester County district attorney's office refused to pursue it.
State officials also disclosed recently that Tavares should have been incarcerated for another two years, but as a result of a bureaucratic foulup at the Department of Correction was credited with so-called "good time'" that he didn't deserve, leading to his premature release.
On Nov. 17, Tavares, who was living with his new wife in a trailer in rural Graham, Wash., kicked in the front door of his neighbors' home and shot Brian and Beverly Mauck to death, according to prosecutors. Brian, 30, and Beverly, 28, had been married in 2006 and traveled the world on scuba diving trips.
