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Nathaniel Miksch granted parole 20 years after Provincetown murder

Nathaniel Miksch granted parole after 2003 Provincetown murder
Nathaniel Miksch granted parole after 2003 Provincetown murder 00:30

PROVINCETOWN — Nathaniel Miksch, a man convicted of a brutal murder in Provincetown in 2003, has been granted parole nearly two decades later. 

Just shy of two decades after he confessed to murdering his then-lover and drug-use partner, Timothy Maguire, 36, Miksch has been unanimously granted parole by the Massachusetts Parole Board.

On October 25, 2003, then-28-year-old Miksch confessed to the murder of Maguire by strangling him with a belt and stuffing his body in a closet after he alleged Maguire raped him in his sleep the night before his murder. 

Miksch was put on trial in 2006 and convicted of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole by the Barnstable Superior Court. 

The decision to grant Miksch parole was made by the board on January 18 after being denied parole on May 14, 2020, after a 2019 review hearing. Under parole, he will be required to attend mental health counselling, be electrically monitored by his parole officer, observe a curfew from 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and abstain from contact with the victim's family as well as other conditions.

"He has been incarcerated for nineteen years with an overall positive adjustment," the Board's decision stated.

The board stated their decision stemmed from "careful consideration of all relevant facts," citing a review of criminal and institutional records and inmate testimony at the hearing as some facts considered.

The board initially denied Miksch parole in 2020 due to substance abuse issues they believed he hadn't addressed during his then 15 years in incarceration. Following the decision, Miksch, who has been sober for 15 years, enrolled in a drug and alcohol treatment course, which he has since completed.

Miksch is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts program at Tufts University.

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