Angel Rodriguez, 54, has spent nearly 36 years of a 55-year sentence behind bars for killing two men in 1989. Here he is shown with his attorney listening to a question during his hearing before the Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. The board granted him parole. Credit: Screengrab / CT-N
A 54-year-old Connecticut man who has spent more than three decades behind bars for killing two men in 1989 was granted parole at a January hearing of the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Angel Rodriguez, who was 18 at the time of the murders, was set to be released from Cheshire Correctional Institution in January 2027 – possibly even earlier thanks to credits for good behavior – without any restrictions. When Rodriguez is released on parole now, he will have two years of supervision and assistance to transition back into society, which would be more beneficial to both Rodriguez and to society at large, the three-member board ruled unanimously.
He said he now plans to move in with his mother in Florida, get a job, seek counseling, enroll in ministry school, mentor others, and go wherever the need is greatest.
“Instead of being part of the problem he once was, he can be part of the solution,” his attorney, Naomi Fetterman, told the parole board.
Under Public Act, 23-169, which took effect Oct. 1, 2023, any person serving a lengthy sentence for a crime committed before he or she reached the age of 21, and who was incarcerated on or after Oct. 1, 1990, has a right to a parole hearing after serving half or more of that sentence.
Under the law, the board must look at whether a person has been rehabilitated and whether it is reasonably probable he or she can remain free without violating the law. It must weigh the benefits of releasing the person versus continuing the person’s incarceration both to the incarcerated person and to society at large.
Angel Rodriguez was initially sentenced in 1990 to 120 years in prison for the “execution-style” murder of Hector Rivera and Gilberto Rodriguez, State’s Attorney John P. Doyle Jr. said. That was cut to 60 years at a sentence modification hearing in 2005, and reduced further to 55 years at a hearing in 2021.
He has served about 36 years of that sentence so far and is earning 16-17 days a month of “good time” risk reduction credit for good behavior, which continues to shave time off his sentence.
“If you continue to gain the good time, we’re looking at a year or so and then you’d be out,” board Chairwoman Jennifer M. Zaccagnini pointed out.
Parole board member Michael Pohl said being released under supervision is the best option, as “this world is not the same place that you left.”
Several family members of Gilberto Rodriguez’, one of the two victims, testified about how their lives changed on Feb. 20, 1989, when Angel Rodriguez fired multiple shots into a car on Spring Street in West Haven, killing both men inside.
“The pain my family endured to this day … forever pain … that will never be healed,” Tiffany Rodriguez recounted through tears about losing her father that day. “I am not only afraid for the safety of myself and my children, but I am worried about the community at large. I do not wish for anyone to live with the pain I have suffered.”
Angel Rodriguez, who had an ongoing dispute with Rivera, told the parole board he didn’t know there was a second man in the car when he fired those shots, that he only saw Rivera, who had threatened him earlier that night.
“I was 18 years old at the time – I thought I was handling my problems like a man,” Angel Rodriguez said. “At the time, I truly felt it was him or me – that was a false choice I had created.”
Initially, he refused to take responsibility for his crimes, he said. Even at his initial sentencing, he didn’t think he had done anything wrong. But a few years into his sentence, he realized he had to wake up and take responsibility because of his daughter – he had to set a good example.
“It took a lot of time for me to come to terms with my situation, ” Rodriguez said.
Despite knowing at the time that he had no possibility of parole, he started taking every program available to him in prison. He went to NA and AA group meetings to better understand his addiction to cannabis, and he reconnected with his faith as a Jehovah’s Witness.
He built strong relationships with staff and other prisoners early on and learned that it’s never too late to become a better person, he said. He got his high school diploma, was the valedictorian of his class, and started mentoring others behind bars – some of whom sent letters of support to the parole board.
“They saw the good in me even when I didn’t see it in myself,” Angel Rodriguez said. “They showed me this is where you can go. This is what you can achieve if you apply yourself.”
In 2005, more than 15 years after the murders, he apologized to the victims’ families. He got down on one knee during the sentence modification hearing and begged Gilberto Rodriguez’ mother to forgive him – because that’s what he would have wanted for his own mother, attorney Fetterman said.
He apologized again during the January parole board hearing, but also said there is nothing he can do to make up for the pain they have gone through.
“I am so sorry for taking Hector and Gibraltar’s life, and the pain I have caused their loved ones,” he said. “I thank God I am not the man I once was … All I can do is live my life in a way that brings honor to their loss. This is something that I’m going to carry for the rest of my life.”
The victims’ family members who testified said shortening the sentence in any way sends the wrong message to the community.
“Anyone that can take the life of another human being must pay the price and serve the full sentence that the judge handed down,” Jose Rodriguez said in a statement read by the Office of the Victims Advocate. “Why take the chance of releasing a two-time murderer?”
Jose Rodriguez in his statement said he is worried about running into his brother’s killer once he is released.
Since Angel Rodriguez will be serving his probation in Florida, the parole board said that is less likely to happen. As a condition of his release, he is to have no contact with family members of his victims.