Albany, N.Y., June 1—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,I,C-Big Flats) and Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R,I,C-Corning) today joined legislative colleagues and family members of murder victims, including the parents of Derrick Robie of Savona (Steuben County), to call for the approval of legislation they co-sponsor that would extend the time period that murderers and other violent felony offenders have to wait to apply for parole.
Currently, the state Parole Board is required to allow inmates to request a parole hearing every two years. Under the legislation (S.1483/A.1680) O’Mara and Palmesano are co-sponsoring, the Parole Board would be allowed to extend the time period between parole hearings from two to five years for violent felony offenders.
In a joint statement, O’Mara and Palmesano said, “Every time there’s another parole hearing for one of these violent criminals, throughout the days and weeks leading up to the hearing, the families of the victims have to relive the horror of the crimes that took the lives they cherished. No family should have to go through that nightmare every two years. There’s no sense of justice in putting these families through the anguish, pain and suffering of repeatedly having to make sure that the heinous, violent felon who took the life of their son or daughter, sister or brother, any loved one, won’t ever see the outside of a prison cell again. That’s just not fair.”
read more on omara.nysenate.gov.
