In the last hours of his term, disgraced Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo commuted the sentence of David Gilbert, who was serving a 75-year sentence for felony murder in the robbery of a Brink's armored car in 1981 in Rockland County, New York.
Gilbert will be granted a parole hearing.
Gilbert was a member of the Weather Underground, which stole $1.6 million in cash from the armored car outside the Nanuet Mall near Nyack, New York. The crime left two police officers and a guard dead.
Gilbert was convicted of three counts of second-degree murder and four counts of first-degree robbery, The Hill reported.
"He has served 40 years of a 75-year sentence, related to an incident in which he was the driver, not the murderer," Cuomo wrote. He said Gilbert made "significant contributions to AIDS education and prevention programs while in prison.
"He has also worked as a student tutor, law library clerk, paralegal assistant, a teacher’s aide, and an aide for various additional facility programs," Cuomo said.
Gilbert's son, Chesa Boudin, said in a statement, "I am overcome with emotion. My heart is bursting, and it also aches for the families of the three victims. Although he never used a gun or intended for anyone to get hurt, my father's crime caused unspeakable harm and devastated the lives of many separate families. I will continue to keep those families in my heart; I know they can never come back."
Boudin’s mother, Kathy Boudin, was granted parole in 2003 for her role in the murders. Another getaway driver, Judith Clark, was granted parole in 2019.
A retired detective with the Nyack Police Department, Arthur Keenan Jr., who was wounded in the shootout, said: "It's absurd." He said Cuomo is "stabbing all of law enforcement in the back, and when I say all, I'm talking about federal, state, local — all across the country — because he's a traitor," reported The New York Times.
Just before leaving office, Cuomo also commuted the sentences of several other people convicted of murder. The former governor resigned after the New York Attorney General's investigation found that multiple women accused him of sexual harassment. Cuomo has also faced accusations of covering up the number of deaths in nursing home caused by COVID-19. Democrat Kathy Hochul was sworn in as New York's new governor Tuesday.
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