Cuomo Denies Clemency Petition for Brinks Robbery Participant

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo granted pardons to two people Dec. 31—and Judith Clark was not one of them.

Clark, who was a getaway driver in the Brinks armored truck robbery Oct. 20, 1981, had filed another request for clemency. An inmate at the Bedford Hills Correction Facility, she is 64.

Two Nyack police officers and a Brinks guard were killed that day the $1.6 million heist was carried out by members of the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army. Peter Paige was shot during the armored truck robbery at the Nanuet Mall and Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly Brown were killed as they manned a roadblock to stop a getaway truck.

Hundreds of people turn out each year to honor their memories in an annual ceremony at Brinks Memorial Park at the entrance to the New York State Thruway in Nyack.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day and many other Rockland leaders called for Cuomo to reject Clark’s petition. County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe filed a petition against it.

“Judith Clark was an active and willing participant in an act of homegrown terrorism that resulted in the death of two law enforcement officers as well as a Brinks security officer, who dedicated their lives to providing for the safety of our citizens,” said Clarkstown Town Supervisor Alex Gromack in a Letter to the Editor.

The two men who were granted clemency have completed their sentences and contributed positively to society in the years since, according to a statement from the governor’s office.

“These two individuals have been an active and engaged part of the New York community since completing their sentences and deserve a second chance without fear of being separated from their families through deportation,” Cuomo said in a statement. “The positive contributions to society by both of these individuals in the years since their release support the case for justice to be delivered through clemency, and I am pleased to take this action today.”