Parole battle in Albany y
GOP blasts status Cuo on prisoners
Outraged over the Cuomo administration’s recent stream of parole approvals for convicted copkillers Herman Bell and Anthony Bottom and murderer-rapist Samuel Ayala, Republican state lawmakers are introducing a new bill giving the Legislature more oversight of the Parole Board.
Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Syracuse) and Assemblyman Joseph Giglio (R-Gowanda) are introducing a bill that would strengthen legislative surveillance over the state board, slamming recent releases of individuals and arguing they do not take into account the feelings of victims.
“The recent decisions by the parole board granting release to violent offenders such as Samuel Ayala and Herman Bell and Anthony Bottom are textbook examples of what’s wrong with this board,” Barclay seethed. “If these heinous actions don’t warrant a full sentence, what does?
“New York state’s pro-criminal mentality has reached a boiling point,” he added. “Simply put, victims are treated as second class while convicted felons are given priority.”
Ayala, 68, was granted parole earlier this month following 43 years behind bars for raping and murdering two women — as their children heard their screams in the room next door. Bell, now in his early 70s, was convicted of murdering NYPD Officers Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones in 1971, and was sprung in April 2018; the former Black Revolutionary Army soldier’s accomplice, 68-year-old Anthony Bottom, is set to be paroled as early as this October.
The new legislation would allow the state Senate and Assembly to remove any one of the state’s 19member Parole Board commissioners by a majority vote. Right now state law solely grants the governor removal powers.
The bill would also require a minimum of three members to interview inmates seeking parole prior to a decision, as current state law only requires the sign-off of two officials.
Lastly, the bill would require a unanimous vote of the three members ahead of each determination on parole. Currently only a majority consensus is required.
Family members who lost loved ones at the hands of Bell, Bottom and Ayala backed the proposal.
“I’ve been giving victim-impact statements since 2002,” recounted Diane Piagentini, 76, the widow of slain NYPD cop Joseph Piagentini.
“We are living the horrendous killings of our families every two years. We don’t even know if the commissioners actually read our statements,” she told The Post, adding each time she appealed to the board against the release of Bell and Bottom, she had to relive the nightmarish pain and hurt associated with her husband’s death more than four decades ago.
Jason Minter, 50, was only 6 when Ayala took his mother Bonnie Minter and friend Sheila Watson into a room before raping and killing them. He said the last time he saw his mother’s rapist and murderer, Ayala was laughing and running out the door after committing the twin murders.
“My concern is that he will be frustrated and I’ve been the most vocal in keeping him in — he’s used my name in the past,” Minter told The Post.