A former Burlington man who was convicted of murdering his live-in girlfriend in July 1993 was released on parole this week.
Jeffrey Maurice Willis, 54, black, male, had been convicted of murdering his live-in girlfriend, Kathryn L. Benton, at the couple’s home at 1710 Hilton Road in Burlington in July 1993.
On Monday morning, Willis was released on parole from the Randolph Correctional Center in Asheboro, a minimum-security prison for adult males, according to the state Department of Adult Corrections.
Then 23, Willis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on November 8, 1993. The case never went to trial, by virtue of a plea agreement that had been approved at the time by J.B. Allen, Jr., then a superior court judge who later became Alamance County’s senior resident superior court judge. (Allen retired in July 2010, after reaching the state’s mandatory retirement age for judges, 72, and died in November 2016.)
Burlington police found Benton dead inside the bathroom at the couple’s residence on Hilton Road shortly before 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 11, 1993, and Willis turned himself in at the police department the following morning. The couple had been arguing, leading to a struggle in which Willis strangled her to death, according to the Burlington police department. He had no criminal record prior to pleading guilty to killing Benton in 1993.
The N.C. Parole Commission initially reviewed Willis’ case for possible parole in early 2022. Sentencing laws that were in place at the time of his conviction require an annual review of all cases for offenders who may be eligible for parole.
However, the state’s subsequent Structured Sentencing laws eliminated the possibility of parole for certain crimes committed on or after October 1, 1994.
Willis has been paroled through the state’s Mutual Agreement Parole Program (MAPP), a scholastic and vocational program established by the state parole commission and prison system, the N.C. Post Release Supervision & Parole Commission announced Monday.
The MAPP program prepares inmates in minimum-security prisons for release through structured activities; “scheduled progression in custody levels”; and community-based programs. The program is reserved for inmates who are within three years of completing a prison sentence; are infraction-free in the 90 days prior to consideration; and are not subject to any pending court action.
