Posted on 11/19/2004 10:30:39 PM PST by Former Military Chick
A mayoral commission that just two months ago granted early release to former State Senator Guy J. Velella has ordered him and four others to surrender by Monday to be returned to jail, the commission's chairman said yesterday.
The extraordinary decision by the panel, the Local Conditional Release Commission, came after the board determined that the five inmates it released this year had been let out illegally. But Mr. Velella's lawyer vowed to fight, saying last night that he would seek a temporary restraining order on Monday, adding that Mr. Velella learned this week that he has prostate cancer.
"We will be in court first thing Monday morning to seek appropriate relief and avoid this injustice," said the lawyer, Charles A. Stillman. Mr. Velella, who was sentenced for conspiracy to accept bribes, "is devastated by the prospect of being subjected to something that we believe is dead wrong," Mr. Stillman said. He added that Mr. Velella's cancer diagnosis further complicated matters, as the former senator could be forced to contemplate his treatment options while dealing with his legal troubles.
Last night, a process server for New York City tried to serve Department of Correction papers to Mr. Velella at his home in the Bronx. No one answered the door, and the server left the papers in the mailbox.
Two other men sentenced with Mr. Velella - Manuel Gonzales and Hector Del Toro - were also ordered to surrender by Monday, as were two defendants released by the commission this year, Kamala Stephens, who was jailed in 2003 for stealing thousands of dollars from her former employer; and Carlos Caba, who served time recently for drug possession. None of the other former inmates could be reached last night.
Each former inmate has until 5 p.m. Monday to turn himself in to the Department of Correction's custody at 100 Centre Street in Manhattan, and each will most likely be reincarcerated at Rikers Island, said Thomas Antenen, a spokesman for the Department of Correction.
The order follows two months of controversy that started when the commission released Mr. Velella, provoking criticism from elected officials and others. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg distanced himself from the board, saying he had not known of its existence even though his office had appointed two of its members.
Two weeks ago, the city's Law Department determined that the board had acted illegally in releasing Mr. Velella and the others. The Law Department said that the board had often acted without enough of its members present, and that in Mr. Velella's case, it had allowed him to apply for his release too soon after he had made an earlier application for release, which the board had denied. Mr. Velella, who is 60, was three months into a yearlong sentence when he was released.
After Mr. Velella's release and the ensuing criticism, Mr. Bloomberg forced the resignation of the board's four members and reconstituted the board by appointing five new members. The newly constituted board then ordered all five former inmates who were granted release over the last year to reapply for release. The board decided that it had the authority to review only releases granted this year.
Mr. Velella and Mr. Gonzales refused to reapply, arguing that the board had no right to revisit the decision. The other three former inmates reapplied but were rejected.
Indeed, the board refused even to consider whether Mr. Velella and Mr. Gonzales ought to be kept out of jail, because the two did not file new applications.
"We found, after we recognized the invalidity of the prior release orders, that we had no discretion with respect to considering anything more on those individuals," said Daniel C. Richman, the commission's chairman.
The Velella episode has cast an unwelcome light on the board, which has operated below the radar screen for years. Such boards were set up under a state law enacted in 1989 as a way to relieve prison overcrowding, a problem that has since abated.
Mr. Stillman, Mr. Velella's lawyer, wrote a 22-page letter to the commission this week arguing that the board had no right to reconsider Mr. Velella's release and accusing Mr. Bloomberg of inserting himself into the process, a view he echoed last night.
Mr. Bloomberg has said numerous times that he did not believe Mr. Velella should have been let out, but the mayor never weighed in on whether Mr. Velella should return to jail. Edward Skyler, the mayor's press secretary, declined to comment last night.
Board members said they had examined the letter from Mr. Velella's lawyer.
"We did read every page of it," Mr. Richman said. "Mr. Stillman was well aware that that did not constitute a proper application."
Mr. Velella and the four others who were released this year were 5 of just 13 people released by the New York City board in the last six years, and lawmakers statewide - including Mr. Velella, when he was still in Albany - have called for the boards to be abolished. Mr. Bloomberg and Gov. George E. Pataki have both said the boards should be abolished.
Next week, the board will release a memo outlining the basis of its decisions.
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