Brockton Man Who Shot and Killed Blind Man to Be Paroled

BROCKTON — A man convicted of killing a blind man with a shotgun at point-blank range at his home in Brockton in December 1986 will be released on parole again, after he had his parole revoked following multiple arrests in 2009.

The Massachusetts Parole Board wrote in its Dec. 8 decision that Jeffrey Kelcourse, now 63, has shown marked improvement in his behavior since he was brought back to prison.

Kelcourse was convicted of second degree murder in the fatal shooting of 36-year-old Terrence Thatcher when he was 27 years old.

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Both men had been drinking — Kelcourse with his girlfriend Cathy Lowell and Thatcher with an acquaintance, Debbie McLaughlin — when they met at a Brockton bar called Court Place the night of the murder.

The four chatted over drinks and eventually went to Kelcourse's house to continue the party, according to a 2014 parole board decision denying Kelcourse parole.

When the two women went to the bathroom, the men began arguing about C-4 explosives, and Kelcourse went to the bedroom to get his 12-gauge shotgun and shells.

As the argument progressed — and in an apparent desire to not be upstaged, according to the parole board — Kelcourse then "shot Thatcher in the head at very close range."

Before committing the murder Kelcourse had a long list of prior arraignments, including two juvenile and six adult offenses, one of which was a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

He was released on parole to his sister's house in South Carolina in 2007, before being arrested three more times on a variety of charges, all involving his then-girlfriend, who is not being identified as a victim of domestic violence.

Kelcourse's parole was revoked and he was brought back to Massachusetts in 2009.

By 2014 he had received ten disciplinary reports during his incarceration, according to the board — including two since he was reincarcerated.

He was denied parole at the time.

Since then, the parole board wrote in its Dec. 8 decision, "he has engaged in programming to address his criminal thinking and history of violence."

Kelcourse will be released to another state on conditions including drug and alcohol testing, a mental health evaluation, attend alcoholics and narcotics anonymous, and no contact with the victim's family.