Weather Underground radical asks Cuomo to free her after 32 years in prison Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering a request for clemency from Judith Clark after she has spent 33 years in prison for the Brinks cop killings, a request that is drawing strong opposition from the victims families and law enforcement. Clark, 64, was convicted of murder in the 1981 $1.6 million Brinks armored truck robbery during which two Nyack police officers and an armored car guard were killed. She drove a getaway car in the robbery by self-proclaimed revolutionaries and black nationalists supposedly financing their cause. Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said he strongly opposes freeing Clark and will file his opposition papers with the state Division of Criminal Justice Services by Wednesdays deadline. DCJS will then prepare the packet for Cuomo, he said. This was not simply a murder-robbery case – although a triple execution alone justifies denial, Zugibe writes in his letter to Cuomo. It was a heinous act of terrorism. No person would consider commutation or clemency for those who committed the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people. Zugibe said Clark didnt deserve early release, noting she took part in the robbery planning in which three men were killed. She also got two years in solitary for trying to escape from Bedford Hills. Cuomos office said it cannot comment on clemency or pardon applications. The families of Sgt. Edward OGrady, Officer Waverly Chipper Brown and guard Peter Paige have long opposed freeing any of the Brinks convict involved in the robbery and murders. John Hanchar, an OGrady nephew, said he believes Clark knows about other radicals involved in the 1981 killings who were not arrested. He also took issue with Clarks web page promoting her as a model prisoner who has changed her ways. My feeling and the feeling of others is there are other people who got away that day and were never brought to justice, Hanchar said. Until she comes clean about the escaped murderers, any claims of being rehabilitated and remorseful ring hollow. Hanchar, a Clarkstown police officer, said that while they oppose releasing Clark, the families dont think about her and the others. We dont give her a second thought, Hanchar said. We spend our time and energy remembering our loved ones. Rockland County Executive Ed Day issued a statement saying clemency would be a cruel and unjust slap in the face to the victims families. Nine children were left without fathers in the wake of this brutal and morally reprehensible crime, he added. The conduct of Judith Clark – and her fellow radicals – was so abhorrent, it simply warrants the imposition of life in prison to ensure that justice is served and society is protected. South Nyack-Grand View Police Chief Brent Newbury called it crazy that the families have to relive the murders through attempts to free those responsible. Newbury led the Rockland PBA opposition in 2003 when 1960s Weather Underground radical Kathy Boudin received parole for her role as a driver in the Brinks murders. This should be in the rear-view mirror, especially for the families, Newbury said. We only deal with this when one of them is up for clemency or a pardon. Clark was denied clemency in 2010 by then-Gov. David Paterson. She is in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility serving a sentence of 75 years to life. She apologized to the families in a 2002 letter published by The Journal News. This time of year, the governor and the president are sent requests for clemency, pardons or commutations of sentences. Clemency is Clarks last hope for release from prison. Courts have denied her bids for retrials. The robbers killed Paige at the Nanuet Mall where they stole the $1.6 million on Oct. 20, 1981. The U-Haul truck they later jumped into was stopped at the entrance to the Thruway in Nyack. The six robbers in the back jumped out and killed Brown and OGrady and wounded two other officers. Clark, a 1960s Weather Underground radical who advocated violence against the government, picked up two of the fleeing radicals in a car, but the three were arrested that day after the car crashed into a wall on Broadway in Nyack during a police chase. More than a dozen people were sentenced to long prison terms as members of the revolutionary group that robbed banks and armored car trucks during the late 1970s into the 1980s. Clark attempted to follow her friend Boudin, who was paroled from prison in 2003 after serving 23 years. Boudin, another 1960s revolutionary, also was part of the getaway team but pleaded guilty rather than go to trial.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 03:02:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015