Mass. parole board members quit after officer shot

BOSTON (AP) — The governor of Massachusetts has accepted the resignation of five members of the state parole board who voted to release a career criminal who authorities said later killed a police officer in a shootout.

Gov. Deval Patrick also accepted the resignation of the executive director of the board Thursday and said he would seek to remove other officials from the agency.

The board had been under review since authorities said a parolee released in 2009 from a triple life sentence had fatally shot Woburn police officer John Maguire following a robbery Dec. 26.

The parolee, Dominic Cinelli, was also killed.

The governor says that while Cinelli bears the responsibility for the death of Maguire, the parole board did not do all it could to protect public safety.