State considers appealing new parole hearing for Judith Clark in 1981 Brinks triple murders

With a deadline approaching for scheduling a court-ordered parole hearing for Judith Clark, the state parole agency is contemplating appealing a judge's ruling ordering the session for the former revolutionary convicted in the 1981 Brinks triple murder.

Clark could be released from prison after more than 36 years for her role in the murders on Oct. 20, 1981, of Nyack Police Sgt. Edward O'Grady, Nyack Police Officer Waverly "Chipper" Brown and Brinks security guard Peter Paige. 

After a parole panel denied her early release in 2017, State Supreme Court Justice John Kelley in April granted the 68-year-old a parole hearing when Clark's attorneys appealed that the parole board violated the law by denying her. 

DECISION: Judge Kelley's decision ordering new parole hearing for Judith Clark

DENIED: Judith Clark denied parole in Brinks robbery

BRINKS: Judith Clark will appeal parole denial

Kelley's decision stated the parole panel "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" in denying Clark's parole application, saying the board gave more weight to the horrific nature of the crime at the expense of her rehabilitation.  

Kelley wrote Clark has "undergone a remarkable transformation over the three decades during which she has been incarcerated. Ms. Clark has taken responsibility for her actions, expressed remorse, and tried to improve the lives of her fellow prisoners, as well as many others."

The judge's decision April 27 gave the New York state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision 60 days to set a new parole hearing for Clark and then 30 days to make a decision.

If Clark is turned down, she gets to reapply in April 2019.

An agency spokesman, Thomas Mailey. said a hearing has not been scheduled.

"The board is reviewing the ruling and is considering an appeal," Mailey said in a statement last week.

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TRANSCRIPT: Judith Clark's parole interview

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The judge accepted arguments by Clark's lawyers that "New York courts have repeatedly ruled that ... the seriousness of the crime of conviction, something that can never be changed, is not a legitimate basis for denying parole, and yet that is exactly what the Parole Board did here. New York law is clear that if a prisoner is found to be rehabilitated and presents no threat to society, she should be granted parole.” 

Clark's former co-defendant Kathy Boudin also won a new parole hearing after being denied a parole in 2001, but was denied after the rehearing. She was released in September 2003 from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County, where Clark has served her prison sentence.

Boudin, the face of the 1960s violent Weather Underground, had served 22 years for the murder of Paige and for robbery. She had been sentenced to 20 years to life in 1984.

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Clark's sentence was 75 years to life, after she had been convicted and declined to participate in her defense, protesting with her two co-defendants that they were political prisoners.

She became eligible for parole when Gov. Andrew Cuomo commuted her minimum term to 36 years. She also was convicted of robbery counts from the $1.6 million heist by self-proclaimed revolutionaries.

As Clark, 67, remains in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester, opposition to her release remains strong among the families of the dead men, law enforcement and many residents.

The two officers were shot dead at a roadblock when six gunmen jumped from the rear of a U-Haul driven by David Gilbert with Boudin as a passenger. The officers were killed nearly an hour after Paige was shot dead during a robbery at the then-Nanuet Mall.

The officers and Paige are survived by spouses and nine children, some who were young at the time of the murders.

She drove a getaway car that crashed into a wall on Broadway in Nyack,  Gilbert and gunman Sam Brown were in the car. Clark tried reaching for a gun while pretending they were surrendering to then-South Nyack-Grand View Police Chief Alan Colsey at the scene.

Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said Clark took part in the planning and called her "an unrepentant cop killer who must remain behind bars."

"Despite the propaganda to the contrary, she has never taken responsibility for her actions and continues to lie about her actual role," Zugibe said.

As Clark awaits a parole date, the reputed Brinks mastermind of numerous robberies, Mutulu Shakur, faced a federal parole hearing for release from a prison in California. No decision has been announced. He was denied parole two years ago.

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