Wow. This may be one of the most emotionally manipulative things Ive ever heard an "activist" say. This is a photo of my best friend, Charles, and I in 2011. He was brutally murdered in 2013. dnainfo.com/new-york/20130… 
https://twitter.com/ooana/status/1381367746550755329
He was beaten, bound, had his ear ripped off and was found with his dog Ramses curled up beside him in his blood in the morning. He and I were supposed to have dinner that night.
That week he was moving back to Houston where he was originally from to help launch a satellite office for the non profit he had dedicated himself to. I washed and cleaned his things and sent back his personal items it his family. I kept that photo I just shared; he had had it
in his wallet and I didn’t know until I found it that day. Ralph and Keith had left it behind. In 2014 these brothers were convicted and sentenced to 25 for life (the maximum) for what they did to us. nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-c…
Now, Albany is about to pass a bill called Elder Parole. For the last two years I have tried, all but begged, Albany to include a provision in the bill that considers violent crime, rape, murder in the 2nd and 1st degrees etc as ineligible for release under the elder parol bill.
Not ONLY have I been ignored (as have others who lost loved one in my state to the most horrific kind of crimes) they dropped the age requirement from 65 to 55. Those men were 50 and 52 in 2014. Charles was murdered before his 49th birthday.
55 is considered elder and someone who would not reoffend? Well...how about 52? This wasn’t Ralph’s first conviction. The argument being made by legislators and activists in my state is framed as a an act of compassionate reform. My state has a history of utter failure in
reforming criminal justice. The Rockefeller laws (and the laws our current president lead regarding drug offenses) was not only immoral it lead to the very situations which so called activists use to claim why this bill must be past without any limitation based on the crime.
This is essentially taking the same irrational mindset that drafted Rockerfeller and applying it once again, the same way they did with bail reform. This is legislation for leverage, for power, for favor, for activists. Not for the people or the community.
People who were sentenced unfairly and cruelly are being used once again as a prop by the very same so called “progressives” who legislated and now justify more irrationality, more communally narcissistic laws, more ignoring the voices that plead to be heard.
This response of scripture daring to try to shame me for wanting to hold my state to their word and keep those men behind bars for the minimum of 25 years is disgusting.
I’ve worked in criminal defense. I’ve worked to improve the lives of people who are mistreated or ignored by societal blind spots or bigotry. This? This is an insult to that. It is an insult to victims. It is an insult to me but most of all it is an insult to Charles.
If anyone thinks for one moment that I will ever accept that my state has deemed his life less worthy than those who treated his body and his life like nothing, stole him from those who loved him and never have shown an ounce of remorse for this, they are very mistaken.
This bill as it is written and these so called advocates and progressives betray us. After this attempt to use G-d to justify their insanity I think one thing is clear to me. We have let these people wave a banner of altruism while ushering in, at best, apathy all the while...
...doing NOTHING that truly rises to the goals they claim over and over again. Charles was someone who stood up against people who took advantage of the vulnerable and he dedicated his life to offering opportunity to the disadvantaged.
How dare anyone mock his life and the loss? How dare anyone treat him and those who lost him once again like nothing?
You’re fooling no one.
You’re fooling no one.
@bradhoylman I’ve left a message on your voicemail, with someone who works in your office, via email and on the 19-20 version of this bill. No word from you or acknowledgment. In fact you’ve lowered the threshold and ignored the issue of the crime committed.
How do you explain this to victims? How is this reasonable or compassionate. How do you feel about activists who endorse this bill claiming that those of us who want to be heard as well are lacking compassion or care for our community. Is this the new standard for NY?
Coward.
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