Rockland County Officials Slam Gov. Cuomo For Granting Clemency To David Gilbert, Man Convicted In Deadly 1981 Bank Heist
NYACK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- One of former governor Andrew Cuomo's final acts is raising the ire of many in Rockland County.
He made a domestic terrorist, 76-year-old David Gilbert, eligible for parole.
"David Gilbert does not deserve to walk our streets," said Tom Walsh, the Democratic Rockland County District Attorney.
Cuomo granted last-minute clemency to Gilbert, making him eligible for parole 40 years after he participated with the Weather Underground and Black Liberation Army in the 1981 Brinks robbery that resulted in the murder of two cops and a Brinks guard.
Gilbert helped plan the crime and served as an unarmed getaway driver.
READ MORE: Cuomo Grants Clemency To 6 Inmates, Including Man Convicted In Deadly 1981 Bank Heist
"The actions of David Gilbert and his co-conspirators changed the lives of many in Rockland County on that day in 1981," Democratic Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco said.
As CBS2's Tony Aiello reports, Falco believes Cuomo was influenced by lobbying from the District Attorney of San Francisco, Chesa Boudin.
Pictures show Boudin during a prison visit with Gilbert, his father, and Kathy Boudin, his mother. She also participated in the deadly robbery and was paroled in 2003.
Chesa Boudin has argued the justice system was unfair to his father. Gilbert's minimum sentence was 55 years longer than that of Kathy Boudin, who committed the exact same crime.
In a 1998 interview, Gilbert spoke of his decade as a domestic terrorist and his regret for the deaths in the Brinks robbery.
"We made a lot of very bad mistakes in this period of time," he said.
That remorse helped convince Cuomo to make him eligible for parole.
RELATED STORY: Heist Getaway Driver Judith Clark Out On Parole After 1981 Police Killings
"A parole board comprised of entirely his appointees, including a member who married a prisoner she met while on the parole board," said John Hanchar, a nephew of one of the victims.
Late Tuesday, the parole board set the third week of September for Gilbert's interview, making him eligible for parole Oct. 18, just in time for the 40th anniversary of the deadly attack.
In 2016, Cuomo made another Brinks robber eligible for parole; Judith Clark was denied after her first hearing in 2017, but parole was granted two years later.