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Cuomo Commutes Sentence of Judith Clark, Driver in Deadly Brink’s Robbery Cuomo Commutes Sentence of Judith Clark, Driver in Deadly Brink’s Robbery
(about 3 hours later)
Judith Clark, who drove a getaway car in the 1981 robbery of an Brink’s armored car that left a guard and two police officers dead, had her prison sentence commuted on Friday by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York. Judith Clark, who drove a getaway car in the infamous 1981 robbery of an Brink’s armored car in Rockland County, N.Y., that left a guard and two police officers dead, went into prison defiant, with seemingly little chance of getting out. The judge who sentenced her saw her as beyond rehabilitation, giving her a minimum of 75 years in prison and all but ensuring she would die there.
Mr. Cuomo’s action means that Ms. Clark, who was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison for her role in the deadly ambush in Nanuet, N.Y., will be eligible for parole early next year. But Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, citing what he called Ms. Clark’s long sentence and “exceptional strides in self-development” commuted her sentence on Friday.
Ms. Clark, 67, has been held at the maximum-security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Westchester County since being convicted of second-degree murder and robbery in 1983. But what many have described as her transformation has drawn wide attention in recent years, and 13 former presidents of the New York City bar association signed a letter seeking clemency for her this year. Mr. Cuomo’s action does not undo Ms. Clark’s conviction on second-degree murder and robbery charges, but it reduces her sentence to 35 years to life and makes her eligible for parole in 2017.
Mr. Cuomo’s commutation of Ms. Clark’s sentence came as he also pardoned 101 New Yorkers convicted of nonviolent crimes as minors and was hailed by criminal justice and prisoner advocates. The clemency actions announced on Friday were the largest number by a governor in the state’s history, according to a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo. If Ms. Clark is freed, it would be in recognition of her evolution from radical to model prisoner, and serve as a coda to a notorious case that was among the last gasps of violent left-wing extremism seen in the 1960s and 1970s.
Ms. Clark’s conviction followed a foray into radical activity that had taken her from student protests to the militant group behind the robbery, which viewed it as an “expropriation” for what they called the Republic of New Afrika. Ms. Clark, 67, must still win over the parole board, and law enforcement groups are expected to fight her release.
Ms. Clark was defiant in court, describing herself as a “freedom fighter” and saying that she did not recognize the authority of the courts to try her. Ms. Clark’s efforts to obtain clemency have gained wide attention in recent years, particularly as other participants in the Brink’s robbery have been released or granted parole hearings.
But her attitudes changed during her incarceration. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees while in prison, and led educational programs for inmates. Both the former Bedford Hills superintendent and a former state parole commissioner have vouched for her. Two of those involved, Mutulu Shakur, the stepfather of the rapper Tupac Shakur and described as the ringleader of the holdup, and David Gilbert, a leader of the Weather Underground who was also involved, remain incarcerated. Mr. Cuomo noted that Kathy Boudin, now a professor at Columbia University, was released in 2003 after receiving a 20-year-sentence as part of a plea deal.
Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, cited this record in his announcement, noting that Ms. Clark’s sentence would allow her to be considered for parole only after she turned 106, “leaving her without an opportunity to appear before the parole board during her natural lifetime.” The governor said Ms. Clark received one of the longest sentences of those tried in the case.
The governor went to the Bedford Hills prison this year to meet with Ms. Clark, as well as with other inmates, a spokesman said. A range of people have attested to Ms. Clark’s transformation, including Elaine Lord, former superintendent of the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women, the maximum-security prison where she has spent almost all of her 35 years behind bars.
Ms. Lord wrote to then-Gov. David A. Paterson in 2010 that she had seen Ms. Clark “change into one of the most perceptive, thoughtful, helpful and profound human beings that I have ever known, either inside or outside of a prison.”
A group of 13 former presidents of the New York City bar association signed a letter seeking clemency for her this year.
In the years before the robbery, Ms. Clark had bounced from more mainstream civil rights causes to a group called the May 19th Communist Organization, an offshoot of the Weather Underground that believed a black-led revolution was in the offing.
She did not quickly renounce her radical ideology once in prison. Deemed a major security risk, she spent two years in solitary confinement after being caught helping to plan an escape.
But her attitudes began to change. Over the years, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees while incarcerated, and led educational programs for inmates, including a prenatal course and an HIV/AIDS program.
Her release has been opposed by law enforcement groups, as well as by some relatives of the men who were killed in the course of the robbery and ensuing search: Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly Brown of the Nyack police, and Paul Paige, a Brink’s guard.
Ed Day, county executive of Rockland County, called the push for clemency for Ms. Clark, “a vicious slap in the face to every member of law enforcement.”
“The blood of Nyack police Sgt. Edward O’Grady, Officer Waverly ‘Chipper’ Brown and Brinks guard Peter Paige will be on her hands until the day she dies,” he said in a statement on Friday. “Judith Clark is a domestic terrorist. Her only place in a civilized society is behind bars.”
Ms. Clark’s lawyer, Steven Zeidman, said on Friday that his client was aware of the concerns of the victims’ families.
“She’s grateful for this opportunity and is very ecstatic, but is very fully aware that it’s painful and difficult for those who lost loved ones that day,” he said.
Though Ms. Clark did not fire any shots, she was a willing participant in the robbery, which the militant group viewed as an “expropriation” for what they called the Republic of New Afrika.
According to her account from that day, she had parked in a corner of a mall in Nanuet where other members of the group attacked an armored car, grabbing $1.6 million while leaving Mr. Paige dead and another guard in a pool of blood. Gunfire was also exchanged later with the police.
Ms. Clark’s radicalism had hardened by the time of trial. She elected, along with two co-defendants, to represent herself, but boycotted the proceedings and watched them from a basement cell as witnesses were not cross-examined. She called herself a “freedom fighter” and called the court officers “fascist dogs.” In a brief appearance, she told the jury, “Revolutionary violence is necessary, and it is a liberating force.”
In an interview on Friday, Alphonso David, Mr. Cuomo’s counsel, said the governor had received Ms. Clark’s clemency application years ago and over time came to believe that her sentence was excessive. He noted that under that sentence, she would not have been eligible for parole until she was over 100 years old.
Also on Friday, the governor, a Democrat, expunged the criminal records of more than 100 people who had served time for nonviolent crimes they had committed as minors and commuted the sentences of several other inmates. They include Felipe Rodriguez, 51, who has served about 27 years after being convicted of a murder that his lawyers say he did not commit, and Valerie Seeley, 61, who had served 15 years for the killing of a boyfriend who the governor said had abused her.