SUFFIELD, Conn. (AP) -- A parole board that ruled a man who killed a police officer in 1977 could go free rescinded that decision Wednesday after an outcry from the victim's family and prosecutors.

The inmate, Gary Castonguay, is serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for fatally shooting Plainville police Officer Robert Holcomb while fleeing from a burglary.

Holcomb's niece Maria Weinberger read a letter from his widow, Nancy Holcomb Searles, during the hearing at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, where Castonguay is imprisoned. Weinberger said Searles was too distressed to attend the meeting and face her husband's killer.

"Castonguay should remain incarcerated for the remainder of his natural existence," Searles said in the letter.

At the hearing attended by dozens of police officers from around Connecticut, a panel of the Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 3-0, without any discussion, to reverse the decision made in January.

Asked if he had anything to say at the hearing, Castonguay said: "I guess not."

The hearing was scheduled after Holcomb's family and prosecutors said they were not aware of the meeting in January when board members voted to release Castonguay in July.

Holcomb's relatives and prosecutors said the earlier decision was made with inadequate information about Castonguay's background, including other violent incidents and threats directed at law enforcement. Parole board officials contend that they did have that information.

Holcomb, 28, had been a Plainville police officer for five years and was married with a 3-year-old son when he was killed.

As Holcomb chased Castonguay after a home burglary, police said, Castonguay's first gunshot knocked him down, then Castonguay shot him three times in the chest at close range.