A man who was 16 when he killed a classmate at Lincoln-Sudbury High School in 2007 will have a parole hearing next month as he seeks release from a life sentence, records show.
John Odgren, 36, will go before the state Parole Board in Natick on Nov. 10 for his initial hearing, records show.
The MetroWest Daily News previously reported that Odgren was seeking parole.
A Middlesex Superior Court jury in 2010 found Odgren guilty of first-degree murder in the Jan. 19, 2007, stabbing death of 15-year-old James Alenson.
Odgren had brought a kitchen knife to school that day and attacked Alenson, whom he did not know, inside a bathroom.
Odgren admitted through counsel that he committed the slaying but argued that long-term psychiatric issues, including depression coupled with Asperger’s, made him psychotic at the time.
His attorneys later argued before the state’s highest court that as a juvenile his brain had not fully developed and therefore he should not face trial, conviction, or sentencing as an adult.
The state Supreme Judicial Court rejected his arguments in a 2019 ruling, concluding that the jury was “made sufficiently aware of the impact that the defendant’s age and various diagnoses might have had on his ability to form the requisite intent to kill.”
While first-degree murder normally carries an automatic life sentence with no parole, Odgren became eligible to seek release when the SJC in 2024 struck down life sentences without an opportunity for parole for people who were younger than 21 when they committed their crimes.
He’s currently incarcerated at North Central Correctional Institution, a medium- and minimum-security prison in Gardner, according to records.
In upholding his first-degree murder conviction in 2019, Justice Elspeth B. Cypher of the SJC wrote that a witness had provided harrowing details of the killing at trial.
“The witness heard a brief struggle between the defendant and the victim, during which he heard the victim exclaim, ‘What are you doing? Stop that. Ow, ow. You’re hurting me,’” Cypher wrote. “He then heard the victim leave the bathroom and noticed three or four drops of blood at the foot of his stall. The defendant, who was still inside the bathroom, repeated, ‘Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What did I just do?’ several times and, after a pause, say, ‘Whoever is in that stall, I need you to go get help.’”
The witness opened the stall door, Cypher wrote, and saw Odgren “sitting on the floor with his arms wrapped around his knees, ‘kind of clutched up in a fetal-type position,’ and a large knife was on the bathroom floor.”
Cypher wrote that when the witness returned to the area with help, he saw Odgren kneeling next to Alenson, saying “Don’t let him die. It was all me. I did this. I just went crazy.”
Alenson’s family set up a scholarship fund in his name in 2010.
“James was passionate about football,” the fund’s website says. “He wore his #37 Rodney Harrison jersey from August through January as he watched games and managed his fantasy team. James cherished the holidays, the spirit of the season, and being with family. ... James had many wonderful qualities. We are most proud of how considerate he was of everyone he met. We encourage those who visit this website to perform an act of kindness in a loved one’s memory.”
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. This story will be updated when more information is released.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.