Victim in 1996 stray-bullet shooting in Brooklyn successfully pushed to have shooter's 45-year sentence commuted
NEW YORK -- The power to forgive can be freeing, letting go of resentments and bitterness, leading to compassion, empathy, and even control in one's life.
In one instance, a remarkable story about a woman nearly killed by a gunshot and the man found guilty of the crime, forgiveness has run deeper than most could imagine.
On a raw October day at Sing Sing Penitentiary in Ossining, New York, David Herion stepped outside the gates, a free man after 26 years.
His daughter, Taquira Brooks, was there to greet him.
She said she had not hugged her father like that since she was 2 years old.
"I just felt like a child again," she said.
Herion was granted clemency -- his 45-year sentence commuted.
He and co-defendant Michael Flournoy were convicted in the 1996 shooting of a 42-year-old Brooklyn woman. Flournoy's sentence had been commuted several years earlier.
"Thanks to my lawyers. They made this possible and thanks to the governor. She made this possible," Herion said.
Kathrina Szymborski-Wolfkot is Herion's attorney.
"Finally. It should have been many years ago," she said.
"I'm so happy. I'm trying not to cry. I'm like overwhelmed happy, like whoa," Brooks said.
Herion and Flournoy were found guilty in the shooting that nearly ended Carolyn Jones' life. She was struck in the head by a stray bullet as she was leaving the Evening Star Baptist Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn with her husband. As they were about to get into their car a spray of bullets came flying.
But despite decades of a painful recovery, it was Jones who lobbied for their release.
"I wanted him home with his family. I always thought about that," Jones said.
"I look forward to this moment so long, for so long. You know, now it's finally here," Herion said.
And so, several weeks after leaving prison, Herion and Jones had the reunion that each had prayed for.
"Thank you so much," Herion said.
"I'm so glad you're home," Jones said.
"This is a long time coming. I sat in the penitentiary," Herion said.
"I prayed for it to happen ... again and again and again and again," Jones said.
Jones said she credits her dedication to God and her church for strength and especially for the power to forgive, though she added her rehabilitation has been ongoing and difficult.
"I'm working on my, my sight. And my, my ... I have a tendency to not ... my attention spans is real short, too," Jones said.
"Mrs. Jones cared about David coming home. All she knew was somebody is still incarcerated for what happened to me on that night and everybody needs to come home, whether they did it or not," Szymborski-Wolfkot said.
Szymborski-Wolfkot said she'll now work on exoneration for Herion and Flournoy. But for now, all are grateful for freedom and for family -- their own, and now the one formed by this very unique bond.
"I just think Mrs. Jones represents the best of humanity and we would live in a better world if more people were like her or at least tried, tried to look for the best in others," Szymborski-Wolfkot said.
"To even think of the things that he's experiencing now is awesome. Yes, it's good for him to be home.
"I waited so long for this. And now ... I'm speechless, but I'm definitely grateful. I'm definitely humble. And I love this lady. And I'm praying that we get to continue on a road to recovery, both of us," Herion added.
