Brinks: Hundreds rally to oppose parole for Judith Clark

NEW CITY - Mary Crowley said she has not forgiven Judith Clark, the woman who drove a getaway car during the infamous 1981 Brinks robbery in which Crowley's brother, Nyack Police Sgt. Edward O’Grady, and two others, were killed.

"I feel it's an injustice that she's had her sentence commuted. ... I just don't feel that she is repentant. I don't feel that she is genuine," said Crowley at a rally to oppose parole for Clark, held on the steps of the historic Rockland Courthouse Wednesday, days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo commuted Clark's sentence.

Crowley was among numerous family members of the three men killed in the Brinks robbery to attend the rally organized by County Executive Ed Day and the Rockland PBA.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo commuted Clark's 75 years-to-life sentence last week, and she was among others who received either commuted sentences or pardons.

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The commutation reduces Clark's sentence to 35 years to life, and makes the 67-year-old eligible for parole this year. Under her previous sentence, she would not have been eligible for parole until she was 106.

Clark is now serving her sentence in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County.

Clark's lawyer, Steven Zeidman, said in a statement released about Wednesday's rally that Clark was a "remarkably changed person" and "grateful for the opportunity to demonstrate that to the Parole Board."

"Judy Clark accepts responsibility and lives with remorse, regret and grief for the three lives lost 35 years ago," Zeidman said. "She has tried to help repair the damage done that devastating day by acknowledging her role and publicly expressing her shame, and by working in prison on behalf of sick inmates and those needing help in turning their lives around."

Clark, a once self-proclaimed revolutionary, was one of the getaway drivers for the 1981 robbery of $1.6 million from the Brinks truck at the Nanuet Mall that left three dead — O'Grady, Nyack Police Officer Waverly "Chipper" Brown, and Peter Paige, a Brinks armored car guard.

John Hanchar, a Clarkstown police officer and a nephew of O'Grady, said on the steps of the courthouse to more than 200 people at the rally that "Judith Clark came to Rockland knowing people would die."

Hanchar, 47, said Cuomo did not reach out to family members of those killed in the robbery before he commuted Clark's sentence, and he was insulted by Cuomo's positive characterizations of Clark.

"When the governor of your own state calls the woman who murdered your family member impressive, it's like pulling a scab off a wound that never really healed," he said.

Earlier this week, Cuomo said Clark impressed him as community-minded when they met before he commuted her sentence.

Diane O’Grady, the widow of Edward O’Grady, said in an open letter to Cuomo that "I find even the suggestion of her release an insult and slap in the face to the families, all law enforcement and veterans and military alike."

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Hanchar was one of more than a dozen elected officials and law enforcement officers who stood on the courthouse steps to oppose Clark's commutation and her potential parole. And placed at the foot of the steps was a portion of the windshield of the Brinks truck — pierced and riddled with holes.

Day said he recalled the day "terrorists with an ideology that makes sense only to them, invaded our county."

"Let's set the record straight: Judith Clark is a cold-blooded killer. Judith Clark is a domestic terrorist," Day said, drawing applause from the crowd. ​

Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe called Clark's commutation a "total disgrace," and said she was "instrumental in the planning" and carrying out of the robbery. He also equated her "terroristic activities" to the Islamic State, the terrorist group based also known as ISIL or ISIS.

Zugibe said the Clark's commutation cannot be appealed or reversed. Clark is eligible for parole this year, and can reapply every two years afterward if she is denied.

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