SOMERVILLE, MA — A child murderer whose crime was so heinous it almost brought the death penalty back to Massachusetts is up for parole. Charles Jaynes, convicted of second degree murder in the kidnapping, rape and killing of 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley, will go before the parole board March 31.

In 1997, Jaynes and another man, Salvatore Sicari, abducted Curley near his home after promising him a bicycle, according to Boston 25. When Curley resisted Jaynes's attempts to assault him, the men suffocated and raped him before dumping the body into a Maine river. Sicari was convicted by a different jury of first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. The case became notorious in Massachusetts for bringing the legislature within one vote of reinstating the death penalty.

Jeffrey Curley's father, Robert, was a vocal supporter of the death penalty in the immediate aftermath of the murder. He later reversed his stance, coming out against capital punishment at the conference of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation in 2001. Robert Curley said inequities in the criminal justice system, including in his son's case, led him to reconsider his position. He told WBUR in 2009 he felt Jaynes was the worse of the two men, but had a better lawyer and was convicted of a lesser charge.

In light of the upcoming hearing, Curley told Boston 25 Jaynes "can't get enough bad things to happen to him, to compensate for what he did to Jeffrey."

Curley and his wife, Barbara, filed a wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit against the North American Man/Boy Love Association due to Jaynes's affiliation with the group. The suit was dropped in 2008 after eight years of litigation.