A man has been paroled for his role in the stabbing deaths of two Dartmouth College professors in 2001.

CONCORD, New Hampshire — A man who served more than half his life in prison for his role in the 2001 stabbing deaths of two married Dartmouth College professors as part of a plan to rob and kill people before to flee abroad was granted parole on Thursday.

James Parker was 16 when he was part of a conspiracy with his best friend that resulted in the deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop in Hanover, New Hampshire. Now just under 40, he appeared before the state parole board, years after pleading guilty to accessory to second-degree murder and serving almost the minimum term of his sentence from 25 years to life.

His attorney and Department of Corrections staff said he has taken many steps over the years to rehabilitate himself and improve the lives of his fellow inmates. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees while in prison and created paintings displayed in the building. He participated in theatrical, musical and sporting activities and contributed to the development of educational guides for prisoners.

Parker requested a reduced sentence in 2018. Under the law, he was eligible because he had served two-thirds of his sentence, but he withdrew the request in 2019 after the Zantops’ two daughters objected.

Parker and Robert Tulloch, then 17, were bored with their life in nearby Chelsea, Vermont, wanted to move to Australia and estimated they needed $10,000 for the trip. They eventually decided to knock on the owners’ doors under the guise of investigating environmental issues, then tie up their victims and steal their credit cards and ATM information. They planned to ask their captives for identification numbers before killing them.

Parker, who cooperated with prosecutors and agreed to testify against Tulloch, said they chose the Zantop house because it looked expensive and was surrounded by trees. Zantop’s half let them in on January 27, 2001. Parker told police the interview lasted at least 10 minutes before Tulloch stabbed Zantop and then ordered him to attack Susanne Zantop. Tulloch also stabbed her.

They fled with Half Zantop’s wallet, which contained about $340 and a list of numbers, but then realized they had left their knife sheaths in the house. They tried to turn back, but saw that a police officer was in the driveway. Fingerprints on a knife sheath and a bloody boot print linked them to the crime, but after being questioned by police, they fled and hitchhiked west. They were arrested at an Indiana truck stop weeks later.

Tulloch, now 40, had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He was sentenced to the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is scheduled to appear for a resentencing hearing in June. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that it was unconstitutional to sentence juvenile offenders to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, and the state Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that Tulloch and four other men who received such sentences for murders they committed as teenagers should be re-evaluated. -sentenced.

Susanne Zantop, 55, and Half Zantop, 62, were born in Germany. She headed the German studies department at Dartmouth. He taught Earth sciences. Respected in their fields, the professors were well-liked by their colleagues and students, many of whom had received an open invitation to their home, just a few miles from the Dartmouth campus.