The disgraceful decision last evening by Andrew Cuomo to issue a last-minute commutation to David Gilbert, a self-avowed domestic terrorist who was convicted of three murders in the 1981 killings of Nyack Police Sergeant Edward J. O’Grady, PO Waverly Brown and Brink’s Guard Peter Paige is reprehensible.
His action while leaving office in disgrace, is one last example of his disrespect for police officers who gave their lives protecting their communities and the families they left behind. David Gilbert deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison. Chesa Boudin could still visit his father in prison, these families could only visit their loved one in a cemetery.
These men left behind nine children, who have had to grow up without their fathers to share life’s milestones and their many achievements. To tell them that one of the people responsible for the murder of their father has served enough time, or that she shouldn’t have to face the full consequences for his crimes, is in a word, unconscionable.