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Woman convicted of 1990 killing seeks her release

Angela Jefferson’s supporters rallied outside of Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins’ office in support of her release.

Shanita Jefferson talked about her mother at a Families for Justice as Healing rally with a tear running down her face outside the Suffolk County District Attorneys Office in Boston. A rally led by formerly incarcerated and directly impacted women and girls was held to support a new trial motion for Angela Jefferson. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

By Associated Press

October 19, 2021

BOSTON (AP) — A lawyer for a Massachusetts woman who has spent 30 years in prison since being convicted of killing her boyfriend says her client was convicted based on “racist and sexist stereotypes,” and is asking Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins to support a motion to reduce her sentence and set her free.

Angela Jefferson’s supporters rallied outside of Rollins’ office in support of her release on Monday, after which the district attorney released a statement saying that her office “is actively and thoroughly reviewing” the case, The Boston Globe reported.

Jefferson, 50, was convicted of first-degree murder in the June 1990 stabbing death of her 21-year-old boyfriend.

Her lawyer, Eva Jellison, filed a motion in May asking a judge to order a new trial or reduce her conviction to manslaughter, which would allow her to go free.

Jellison said her client did not receive a fair trial.

“The confluence of circumstances also clothed Ms. Jefferson in racist and sexist stereotypes and tropes that dehumanized her, invited the all-white jury to focus on irrelevant and biased character judgments, and disregarded her mental state,” Jellison wrote. Jefferson is Black.

Rollins in her statement said a detailed review of the case is vital for both Jefferson and the victim’s family.