Convicted killer wins a fourth chance at parole in 1965 murder

Jul. 4—SALEM — A former Salem man whose criminal career spanned sweeping changes in the criminal justice system has been granted a fourth chance at parole from a life sentence for the murder of a Danvers restaurant owner in 1965, a decision opposed by the district attorney's office and one Parole Board member.

Richard A. White is now 76 and suffering from kidney disease and other health issues. But those health issues, the state's Department of Corrections commissioner concluded, are stable and not terminal. His effort to be released on medical parole was denied.

More significantly, Department of Corrections Commissioner Carol Mici concluded just two years ago in that denial that given an "extensive history of violating parole and escaping" indicates that if released on medical parole, White "would continue to pose a threat to the public and community."

Last month, five of the six Parole Board members came to a different conclusion, voting to again parole White. In their two-page decision, dated June 14, the board concluded that as long as White follows the requirements of his parole, including a curfew, electronic monitoring, and testing for drugs and alcohol, it is safe to release him.

The decision, per state policy, does not identify how Parole Board members voted individually on the request.

History of escapes

White, who had started committing crimes as a teenager, was serving time at what was then called the Concord Reformatory when he escaped in October 1965.

Two months later, the 19-year-old White was armed with a Browning handgun, reported stolen from a Salem home, when he went to the Vi-Cliff Restaurant on Route 114 in Danvers, now the location of a condominium complex near the Middleton line. A newspaper account described the Vi-Cliff as a "fashionable supper spot."

Clifford Crawford, 55, of Lynnfield, a father of two children (for whom the restaurant was named) was a successful restaurant owner who had also owned Chickland in Saugus. Sometime in the early morning hours of Dec. 5, 1965, Crawford was outside the restaurant when he was shot in the chest and killed. His custodian found him on the snow-covered ground when he showed up for work around 6 a.m. It was the town's first murder in decades.

Police suspected White, believing he had also been involved in a confrontation with the owner of the Bel-Aire Diner in Peabody. The following day, a Corvette stolen from a Peabody man was found in Ohio, and inside, police found a list in White's handwriting that included "rubber gloves, wire and clips, a screwdriver, pliers, a sweat shirt, a knife, a handkerchief, Vi-Cliff's, Agawam, China Sails, and Anthony's Hawthorne," according to a 1967 Supreme Judicial Court review of White's conviction.

White was found in Chicago in April 1966, where he confessed to the murder; he made another confession back in Massachusetts. But two months later, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in the case of Miranda vs. Arizona that police must advise defendants of their rights prior to questioning. and while officers informed White of some of his rights, they did not include that if White couldn't afford a lawyer one would be appointed — a result of another then-recent case, Gideon v. Wainwright. Only his statements to two friends during a jail visit were admissible, the trial judge ruled.

White was convicted of first-degree murder in March 1967. But with the evidence unclear as to whether he planned to commit an armed robbery — a life felony that would trigger the felony murder rule — or a breaking and entering and theft, the SJC reduced White's conviction to second-degree murder.

Six years later, in 1973, White and another inmate were among some of the first prisoners allowed to take part in an experimental program that allowed them to be moved from Walpole prison to a minimum security unit at MCI Framingham, to teach computer skills to other inmates, according to news reports at the time. Instead, he used the opportunity to escape again. He turned up in Canada, where he took part in an armed robbery at a Canadian National Bank branch that left an innocent bystander dead.

He was returned to Massachusetts in 1981 to resume serving his life sentence.

He became eligible for parole in 1989, and finally got his chance in 2001. But by 2004 he had started drinking heavily. After arrests on charges of assault and leaving the scene of a crash, and admitting to drinking at the time of that accident, his parole was revoked, according to records.

He got another chance in 2006, but was returned to custody after he was found following two nervous women through a park after his curfew. He was again released in 2008, but the following year, was charged with assault and battery and annoying/accosting a woman; his parole officer found more than a dozen empty vodka bottles and several shotgun shells in the room of the sober home where he lived at the time.

He's been in custody since.

In 2013, he tried to convince state courts to grant him a new trial in the Crawford murder, arguing that the judge in his trial made significant errors in the jury instructions. He also asked that in the alternative, the court should reduce his conviction further, to manslaughter.

An Appeals Court panel concluded in 2017 that when the SJC reduced his conviction to second degree murder, "the defendant received all the relief to which he is entitled."

Disagreement over risk

The Parole Board, in its decision, concluded that White "has had an overall positive institutional adjustment" since his reincarceration and has been sober since 2010.

"Mr. White has worked to address his mental health issues and alcohol dependence," the board said in its decision.

"He has extensive medical needs to include chronic end stage kidney disease and COPD, which would be suited to be treated in the community," the board said. At the same time, due to his record, he does not qualify to be placed in a skilled nursing facility. Instead, "He is encouraged to continue his medical and mental health in the community."

Prosecutors in Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office have concerns, citing not only White's history of escape and parole violations but his conduct in recent years — including an incident in 2011 when he refused to share a room with a Black prisoner.

"His refusal to follow orders and his callous racist remark are demonstrative of his complete inability to reintegrate into a modern society," assistant district attorney Emily Mello wrote in a formal opposition to White's parole request.

White will be supervised by a parole officer following his release, once his living arrangements are approved.

Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis