(MyFoxBoston.com) -- A convicted murderer broke down in court while fighting for his freedom Tuesday. The convict learned something at his parole hearing that had him asking to stay behind bars.
Marvin Cathey raped and strangled 9-year-old Cassie Lee Kucher on July 29, 1999, before stabbing and strangling her mother Deborah with a telephone cord. At his parole hearing Tuesday, and 16 years after the murders, Cathey found out Cassie's brother Derrick, who found the two bodies, committed suicide years later.
Cathey is serving two life sentences. At Tuesday's hearing he was asking the board to parole him to his second life sentence so he could start serving that earlier. In his opening statement he apologized to the family. Then the board hammered him for dropping out of sex offender registry programs while in prison.
Cathey agreed to return to the hearing after he broke down and left before his or the victim's family could talk.
One by one Cassie and Deborah's family shared their non-stop pain. Members of the Leicester Police Department that handled the case showed up with a petition signed by nearly 2,500 residents asking the board to reject the parole.
Former Sergeant Don Lennerton said, "It wasn't pleasant to relive the experience again. I was the first officer on the scene. I don't like talking about it. It bothers to me today."
Cathey is still technically eligible for parole after Tuesday's hearing but the board made it clear in its closing statements that this killer has a long way to go.