David Gilbert, whose 75-year prison sentence was commuted in one of Andrew Cuomo’s last acts as governor, was granted parole.
David Gilbert, a participant in the politically motivated ambush of a Brink’s armored car in 1981 that left two police officers and a guard dead, has been granted parole after spending 40 years in prison for his role in the armed attack, officials said on Tuesday.
Mr. Gilbert, 77, will be released by Nov. 30, officials said. He was granted a parole hearing this month after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo — in one of his last acts before leaving office under a cloud of sexual abuse allegations — commuted his 75-years-to-life sentence.
Absent Mr. Cuomo’s intervention, Mr. Gilbert would not have been eligible for parole until 2056. The Parole Board’s decision to give him his freedom now was condemned by politicians in Rockland County, where the attack occurred, and by one man who survived it.
“This was a terrible injustice by Governor Cuomo,” said Arthur Keenan Jr., a retired Nyack, N.Y., police detective who was wounded in the shootout. Mr. Keenan, who has been tireless in opposing the release of those convicted of taking part in the attack, has previously called Mr. Cuomo a “traitor.”
Ed Day, the Rockland County executive, called the decision to parole Mr. Gilbert “a cruel and unjust slap in the face to the families” of the attack victims. Mr. Day, a Republican, said that Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, “should be ashamed for allowing this domestic terrorist to walk free.”
But Mr. Gilbert’s supporters said that he had led an exemplary life in prison and that he had earned his chance at redemption.
“David is a perfect example of the human capacity to change,” said Steve Zeidman, a City University of New York law professor who represented Mr. Gilbert in his bid for clemency.
Mr. Gilbert was 37 on the day of the attack, Oct. 20, 1981, when nearly $1.6 million in cash was stolen from an armored Brink’s car outside the Nanuet Mall near Nyack. Those killed in the robbery included Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly Brown of the Nyack Police Department, as well as Peter Paige, a Brink’s guard.
The attack, which was planned by the Black Liberation Army and the May 19th Communist Organization, immediately became a centerpiece in the pantheon of political violence in the United States. It continues to loom large in Rockland County’s collective memory.
A memorial at the shooting site, Mountainview Avenue near the entrance to the New York State Thruway, is held every year at 4 p.m., close to the time of the attack. The ceremony this year, last Wednesday, drew a crowd of more than 500.
Mr. Gilbert, who was in a getaway vehicle when he was taken into custody, was convicted of robbery and felony murder for his role in the attack. He was unapologetic at his sentencing in 1983.
“The rulers, the rich and their armed mercenaries are the only lives valued by this court,” he said at the time, reading from a prepared statement. “We say that if they sentence us to 1,000 years or shoot us at dawn tomorrow, it will not save this social system.”
When he was caught, he was with Kathy Boudin, a fellow left-wing radical with whom he had a young son. Ms. Boudin, who was released from prison in 2003 after serving 22 years as part of a plea deal, went on to become a professor at Columbia University.
The couple’s son, Chesa Boudin, was elected the district attorney of San Francisco in 2019, and led a campaign urging his father’s release from prison. Mr. Boudin’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement issued after Mr. Cuomo commuted Mr. Gilbert’s sentence, Mr. Boudin said he was “overcome with emotion.”
“Although he never used a gun or intended for anyone to get hurt, my father’s crime caused unspeakable harm and devastated the lives of many separate families,” Mr. Boudin said in the statement. “I will continue to keep those families in my heart; I know they can never get their loved ones back.”
In announcing the decision to grant Mr. Gilbert clemency, Mr. Cuomo cited his work in AIDS education and prevention while he was incarcerated, as well as his work as a teacher and law library clerk.
Mr. Zeidman said that Mr. Gilbert was well aware of the harm he had done and wanted to “atone as much on the outside as he has on the inside” once he left prison.
“He carries his remorse, contrition and pain with him on a daily basis,” Mr. Zeidman said.
Kathleen Pequeño echoed that view. Her brother, Army Specialist Edward Pimental, was killed by a terrorist faction as part of an attack on the U.S. air base in Germany in 1985. She met with Mr. Gilbert as part of what she described as a lifelong effort to heal after that act of political violence and was among thousands of people who wrote letters urging his release.
Ms. Pequeño said it was immediately clear to her that Mr. Gilbert understood the gravity of his actions and that, in her mind, there was no benefit to keeping him imprisoned.
“I think about the families that lost loved ones,” she said. “Continuing to punish him isn’t going to bring them back.”
Mr. Gilbert was the second Brink’s defendant to find favor with Mr. Cuomo. In 2016, Mr. Cuomo commuted the 75-year sentence of Judith Clark, praising her “exceptional strides in self-development.” She was later released on parole.
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