After 22 Years in Prison, 1960s Radical Kathy Boudin Set Free

[demdave]

BEDFORD, N.Y. (AP) - Over bitter protests from law officers, 1960s radical Kathy Boudin was released from prison Wednesday after serving 22 years for murder in an armored car heist that left two policemen and a security guard dead.
"I'm physically ill right now," said Brent Newbury, president of the Rockland County Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. "I can't believe I just saw Kathy Boudin walk out of prison."

Boudin, 60, a former Weather Underground member, was granted parole last month despite heavy opposition of relatives, friends and colleagues of the slain men.


http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAOIV8QPKD.html

[FlemingsGhost]

1. Her debt is paid, she has every right to be free...

Like it or not, this is America, Mr. Newbury.

Save your indignation for the next time your police brethren help to squelch dissent.

[tom_paine]

2. Oh, he'll save his indignation, allright,

when he breaks someone's skull with his nightstick...

And I would disagree with your point, DemsUnite. This is NOT America.

It is Amerika. Where people are held in indefinite detention without habeus corpus nor trial.

[leftyandproud]

3. ahem..

this anti-police attitude is why the right gets away with the "soft on crime" label for democrats. I don't think you can blame the cops for being angry over this...If someone did something wreckless that killed two of my comrades and a working class security guard 20 yrs ago, I'd be pissed at her release too. Thats triple murder...should be LIFE, or at least another 30 years IMO, a decade for every life she took..

[demdave]

4. Reckless? In the commision of an armed robbery, in order to escape

imminent capture, 2 police officers were killed and another wounded.

Hardly reckless. But I agree with the rest of your statement. She did good deeds in prison. I think she should have been able to make it her life's work...in prison.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. Read the article

She didn't shoot anybody, other people did. Didn't order it, either.

You in the USA have this weird thing of considering everyone participating in a robbery equally (and maximally) guilty of any eventual murder in the course of the robbery. To me, it's insane.

Therefore, in this case I would be inclined to consider 22 years in prison about right. Besides, it wasn't a release, it was a parole. The woman will have all kinds of restrictions and monitoring forever.

On edit: shhot -> shoot

[demdave]

7. I guess she should have just gotten a speeding ticket then,

After all she was only part of the planning and execution of the crime, had foreknowledge that the plan was to murder the armored car guards and had the job of duping and distracting the police in order to give her cohorts an oppurtunity to open fire on them. But wait, she wasn't driving. So just let her go. /sarcasm

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. "Had foreknowledge that the plan was to murder the armored car guards"

Well, if that particular piece of information is true, I stand corrected. I was thinking along the lines of "let's rob money", without killing somebody being part of the plan. The article isn't clear about this.

What I don't agree with is when the entire gang is sent to the needle because one of them happened to be murderously trigger-happy. That does happen, right?

[demdave]

10. "sent to the needle "...I take it you mean death penalty...NO

Often nobody gets the death penalty when multiple people are involved because of the dispute over "who pulled the trigger". I would gladly accept any info of this happening on a regular basis that I am unaware of.

And the idea of "in for a penny, in for a pound" obviously didn't start in the USA.

[FlemingsGhost]

11. Interesting use of "sarcasm."

Looks like straw man to me.

[FlemingsGhost]

6. Something in your throat?

A sentence was levied. She served it in good enough conscience, for 22 years, that a parole board determined she was no longer a threat to society. What's your beef?

By the way, your opinion isn't the law in NY.
Or anywhere else for that matter...

[saigon68]

8. The anti-police sentiment runs deep in the ethnic community.

An example of this is police chief "BULL" connors in birmingham alabama directing his dog handlers to allow the dogs to bite the crotches and testicles of black men in 1963.

Also the great democrat convention of 1968 when daly's police were participants in a police riot and hundreds of people were clubbed battered and assaulted by a herd of criminal hooligans dressed in blue..

Or the quote from a member of a swat team recently posted here.

"When you wear blue you have to kiss ass, when we wear black we get to kick ass"

[jiacinto]

14. Spare me

She killed three people. I can't believe that you sympathize with her. What about the children of those men who had to grow up without fathers? Where is your concern about them?

[FlemingsGhost]

16. Sympathy, Carlos? Hardly.

Just where was that expressed?

[jiacinto]

17. See reply #1

You were attacking the police.

[FlemingsGhost]

18. I was attacking Officer Newbury, in particular.

** HIS ** opinion isn't the law in NY, either.

In fact, he openly challenges a system he is supposed to champion:

----------------------------

1. She was tried.

2. She was convicted.

3. She was sentenced

4. She was incarcerated.

5. She was reviewed by a parole board.

6. She was granted parole.


This is Officer Newbury's system, with his set of rules. He doesn't have to like the outcome, but to openly attack and begrudge a woman who has--in the eyes of the law--paid her debt to society, is extremely hypocritical. And he's the President of their Benevolent Society? That's what inspired the parting shot regarding his "bretheren."

That being said, I expressed no "sympathy" towards Ms. Boudin

(on edit: typo)

[jiacinto]

19. I still think she belongs in jail

Those children who grew up without fathers are suffering because of her behavior.

[FlemingsGhost]

20. I do, too.

Imagine that. ;-)


Alas, ** MY ** opinion isn't the law in NY, either.

(on edit: additional text)

[JackSwift]

12. She hasn't paid her debt

She was paroled after participating in a crime of violence where mulitple murders were entirely foreseeable. She then fled for years. She should die in prison as I see it.

[FlemingsGhost]

13. Well, then you need to be reminded as well:

Your opinion is not the law in NY.

"She was paroled..."

Yup, she sure was. The same system that tried, convicted and locked her away for 22 years, felt it was time to release her.

[jiacinto]

15. I agree with you there

It is unfortuante that some people are more concerned about criminals than their victims.