A police union and a murdered cop’s widow are blasting a former state parole commissioner who once helped release a cop killer and now backs an Albany bill giving crime victims less of a voice in the release process.
Carol Shapiro, a criminal justice activist and social worker who resigned from the state parole board in 2019 after two years, testified on Dec. 7 in Albany in support of the “Fair & Timely Parole Act.”
Before a convicted felon is released on parole or ordered to stay in prison, the criminal’s victims are given a chance to speak before — or submit a victim’s impact statement to — the board.
But Shapiro slammed the victim impact process as “unhealthy,” suggesting heartbroken loved ones are repeatedly forced to “tell their stories.”
The “Fair & Timely Parole Act” would require the release of eligible prisoners unless they present “a current and unreasonable risk,” and would focus the decision-making process more on the progress of the individual behind bars than on the egregiousness of the crime.
The bill — S7514 — would not ban the grieving families from giving their impact statements, but would prevent the parole board from making it a primary factor in denying parole.
“The victim has its say at sentencing,” Shapiro said during her testimony.
The bill sponsor, far-left state Sen. Julia Salazar, argued current law “makes the [parole] board susceptible to political pressure” in high-profile cases.
Shapiro was one of two parole commissioners of the three-member panel who voted for the April 2018 release of Herman Bell, who killed two NYPD cops and was sprung on her watch after 40 years behind bars.
Bell, a former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army soldier, lured officers Joseph Piagentini, 28, and Waverly Jones, 33, to their deaths during an ambush in Harlem in 1971.
Shapiro’s testimony stung Piagentini’s widow.
“The parole commissioner who signed off on the release of one of my husband’s killers has absolutely no business talking about what’s ‘healthy’ for me and my family,” Diane Piagentini told The Post. “She knows exactly how painful it was for us to watch these assassins go free, because we told her. That is why the victim impact statement is so important.”
Bell was convicted in 1975, and had appeared before the board seven times since 2004. Each time Piagentini submitted a victim’s-impact statement describing the trauma she and her two young daughters endured. Parole was denied each time.
Bell, now 73, refused to show regret or remorse during the first 30 or so years of his 25-years-to-life sentence, insisting he was innocent and nothing more than a “political prisoner.” Witnesses and friends testified he openly bragged about the killing. Finally, in 2012, Bell admitted to the board he played a part in the murders and claimed he’s a “peaceful” man you’d want as a friend.