State lawmakers in New York are considering a series of “four bad bills” that critics are warning could lead to the release of mass murderers, serial killers and other violent convicts.
Among the examples Suffolk County officials and the families of victims raised at a news briefing Friday are serial killer Joel Rifkin, who murdered between nine and 17 women; commuter shooter Colin Ferguson, who killed six and wounded 19 on the Long Island Rail Road; and the White supremacist gunman Payton Gendron, who livestreamed the massacre of 10 people at a Tops supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo.
Thousands of other violent criminals could also be released. The bills aim to establish an elder parole program in the Empire State, among other changes that would result in the early release of killers.
“We’re talking about the worst of the worst,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told Fox News Digital. “The people who have done really the worst acts possible and have proven to be really a danger to our society. And they’re like an infinitesimal, small percentage of our population who create an inordinately large amount of all of the problems, all the violence, all of the theft and everything else.“
Joining Suffolk County officials at a news briefing Friday was Theresa Bliss, whose 25-year-old son David was murdered in 2021 outside a pizzeria in Port Jefferson after an argument with strangers.
“I have a question for every New York lawmaker pushing the Earned Time Act, Fair and Timely Parole Act, Elder Parole and Second Look Act, does our pain mean anything to you?” she asked. “How do you fight so aggressively for the early release of murderers, yet dismiss the families whose lives were shattered?”
The victims don’t get second chances, she added.
The man who shot her son received a sentence for 40 years to life in prison. Under the proposed reforms, parole could come much sooner.
“When you pass laws that prioritize criminals over victims, you’re not reforming the system — you’re erasing us,” she said.
The briefing came days after Tierney secured a guilty plea from another Long Island serial killer, Rex Heuermann, who is expected to be sentenced in June after admitting to torturing and killing eight women.
Tierney has been a frequent critic of the state’s recent bail reform laws, which allowed a group of people suspected of dismembering a body and littering the remains around Long Island’s south shore to go free before police had enough evidence to also charge them with killing the victim.
And earlier this month, he sidestepped the state’s sanctuary laws in order to make sure Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took custody of a Guatemalan man accused of raping a child.
“While these bills are often framed as reforms and have innocuous titles, in reality, they will push thousands of New York’s most violent criminals out onto our streets,” Tierney warned.
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Some key issues Tierney and Suffolk County Executive Edward Romaine, both Republicans, slammed at a news briefing Friday:
One bill would cut all sentences less than life in prison by half and prevent prison assaults and stabbings from being deducted from credits for good behavior. Since the proposed reduction applies retroactively, it would “result in the immediate release of thousands of New York’s most dangerous inmates.”
“These people are where they are because they richly deserve it,” Tierney told Fox News Digital. “Every second of whatever sentence they receive, they’ve earned.”
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Another bill would block the state’s parole board from considering the nature of the original crime when weighing parole — “no matter how horrible.” This specifically benefits murderers and rapists, the officials said, and implies that parole is automatic, not something earned.
“It turns parole upside down — it prohibits consideration of the seriousness of the crime and even the defendant’s remorse or lack of it,” Tierney said.
In the Bliss case, the killer was seen on home security video shortly after the shooting laughing about it. At future parole board hearings, the people deciding his fate would be unable to consider that behavior if the bill passes.
A third would impose a California-style elder parole in New York, and take the concept one step further, the officials warned. The Empire State’s version would abolish life without parole, “even for serial killers, cop killers and racist murderers.” It applies to inmates who have served at least 15 years of a sentence, including a life sentence, and are older than 55.
“Once [Gendron] turns 55, every two years those families are going to have to go through the parole process again,” Tierney said. “Why?”
The fourth bill gives felons a chance to petition a judge for a sentence reduction. The judge cannot be the same one who imposed their sentence to begin with. There is no limit on the number or frequency of petitions, and if one is denied, the inmate can immediately file another with a different judge.
“These bills are an insult to every law-abiding citizen, the law enforcement community and especially the victims of these crimes,” said Romaine, the top elected official in Suffolk County, a suburb of New York City. “Use common sense and do not pass these bills.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office for comment.
