DA: Massachusetts man captured in South Carolina granted parole after fatal shooting of taxi driver

NATICK – The state parole board has granted parole to an adult man convicted of First- Degree Murder in connection with a 1997 fatal shooting in Brockton, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz has announced.

In a Parole Board decision dated November 18, our office was notified yesterday that 47-year-old Allen Alston — formerly known as Allen Scoggins — is set to be released to a Long- Term Residential Program following 90 days in minimum security. The Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office testified in opposition to Alston’s release at his July 2nd parole board hearing.

On May 16, 1997, a then 19-year-old Alston shot and killed Ismael Rivera, 56, in Brockton. Rivera, a taxi driver, picked up Alston on Wyman Street shortly after 1:00 a.m. that morning. Alston was seen entering Rivera’s vehicle, and ultimately shot Rivera before fleeing on foot. Alston was arrested in North Charleston, South Carolina about 5 months after the fatal shooting and confessed to killing Rivera.

Alston was convicted of First-Degree Murder and sentenced to life without possibility of parole following a jury trial in December 1998. However, in 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held in Commonwealth v. Mattis that a sentence of life without a possibility of parole is unconstitutional as applied to “emerging adults” between the ages of 18 and 20. As a result of this decision, Alston became eligible for a parole hearing.