Cuomo commutes sentence of radical who participated in theft of 81

David Zeidman, a CUNY law school professor who began representing Gilbert in 2019, said Monday evening his client was one of the oldest and oldest of the state’s estimated 38,000 inmates. He said Gilbert had expressed deep remorse for his role in the crime and, while behind bars, participated in efforts such as the creation of an AIDS education program that has become a statewide model as the epidemic raged through the 1980s and 1990s.

Zeidman, who heads the Law School’s Criminal Defense Clinic, said beyond the impact on Gilbert personally, Cuomo’s action sends a message to those in prison who fear they may have no chance of ‘to be released. “When a governor grants clemency, it resonates, it resonates, it spreads hope,” he said.

Gilbert’s son, Chesa Boudin, was elected San Francisco district attorney in 2019. His mother, Kathy Boudin, was also jailed for decades for her role in the heist and was granted parole in 2003.

Paul Grondahl of the Times Union wrote in November about the efforts of Chesa Boudin and Jeff Jones of Green Island, a family friend and former conservationist turned radical of the 1960s, to pressure Cuomo to releases Gilbert from prison – especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As someone who has known David since 1966, I’m just thrilled,” Jones said Monday night. “… He’s a guy who deserves to get out of jail.”

Gilbert and Kathy Boudin were in a transfer truck waiting for the getaway car carrying the thieves and the $ 1.6 million they had stolen from the Brink’s truck at Nanuet Mall. Boudin was sentenced to 25 years in life imprisonment after hiring a lawyer, pleading guilty and agreeing to a plea deal; Gilbert defended himself and was tried.

“My father was not present in the courtroom for much of the trial and no one defended him, which is why it is a bad idea to represent yourself,” said Chesa Boudin in Grondahl. “My mother and father did the exact same thing and had identical guilt in the crime. My mother served 22 years in prison and was paroled 17 years ago, while my father is still in prison. . This is an example of an imbalance in criminal justice. “

Boudin noted that his father may be the only person his age to have spent so many years in a state prison who was unarmed when the crime was committed. Another co-accused of Brink’s robbery, Weather Underground member Judith Clark, who was driving the getaway car, was granted parole in 2019 after Cuomo commuted his 75-year sentence to life in 2016. Prosecutors and the police fiercely opposed his parole and called it an insult to the family members of the victims.

Spread by the scandal, Cuomo must give up his functions at 11:59 p.m. Also on Monday, he commuted the sentences of four other people who will not have to appear before the parole board to obtain their release. They are:

• Greg Mingo, 68, convicted of four counts of second degree murder as well as burglary and weapons, who served 39 years of a 50-year life sentence;
• Robert Ehrenberg, 62, was convicted of two counts of second degree murder as well as of theft and burglary, who served 28 years of a 50-year life sentence;
• Ulysses Boyd, 66, convicted of one count of second degree murder and weapons charges for an incident in which he was not the shooter, who served 35 years of a 50 years in perpetuity.
• Paul Clark, 59, convicted of three counts of second degree murder and one count of attempted second degree murder, who served 40 years of a total sentence of 58 years and 4 months in life.

As in Gilbert’s case, Cuomo cited men’s efforts to educate themselves and do good works while incarcerated.