Free killer wife: judge
‘Abused’ NY gal’s 26 years enough
A Manhattan judge has ordered the release of a woman who has been locked up for more than 26 years for killing her abusive husband after the state’s parole board said she should stay in prison.
Laurie Kellogg — whose teenage lover pulled the trigger as Bruce Kellogg slept on the couch of the couple’s Seneca County lake cabin in 1991 — has been a “model inmate,” Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in the ruling issued Thursday.
“She has ‘paid her debt to society’ and now just wants freedom,” he said, adding that the now-52-year-old woman should be let out of Taconic Correctional Facility within 30 days.
The judge also took the parole board to task for its “subjective views over her lack of remorse.”
“Maybe she is not one to ululate or ‘beat her breasts,’ ” he said.
At her parole hearing last year, Kellogg said, “I wish I could turn back the hands of time and make different decisions.”
Her bid for parole included letters of support from a prison chaplain, her children and a corrections officer.
The officer, Hector Stalf, wrote that Kellogg was a “kind, compassionate and hardworking individual,” and added, “I believe she would truly be an asset to her family, church and community upon her release.”
Lastly, the judge noted that releasing Kellogg now instead of waiting two years for a second parole hearing would save taxpayers more than $100,000.
The Board of Parole is reviewing the ruling. Kellogg’s attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.
Kellogg, who says she endured years of physical and sexual violence by the 33year-old man she married at age 16, was convicted of second-degree murder in 1992. She was given a sentence of 25 years to life.