'60s radical freed after serving 22 years in fatal robbery
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Kathy Boudin, escorted by a corrections officer, waves Wednesday as she leaves the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.
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CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports on the release of 1960s radical Kathy Boudin after serving 22 years in a New York prison (September 17)
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(CNN) -- Kathy Boudin, a 1960s radical found guilty for her role in a 1981 robbery in which three people died, left a New York state prison Wednesday morning, a day after police groups tried to block her parole.
A state judge Tuesday turned down a lawsuit by police groups and the relative of the slain officer to keep the 60-year-old Boudin in prison. Two police officers and a security guard were killed in the robbery.
John Handchar, the nephew of Sgt. Edward O'Grady, along with the New York State Fraternal Order of Police and the Rockland County Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA) filed suit Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court in Westchester County.
O'Grady was killed, along with fellow Nyack, New York, police officer Wavery Brown and Brink's security guard Peter Paige, when members of the Black Liberation Army stole $1.6 million from an armored truck.
Boudin, who said she merely served as a decoy and never had a gun, pleaded guilty to a single felony charge in Paige's death. She was sentenced to 20 years to life and served 22 years.
The Parole Board announced Monday that Boudin was ready for release from the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.
The suit asked a judge to sign an order delaying Boudin's release until a hearing on the decision, handed down August 20, to release her on parole.
Although Judge Kenneth Lange denied the restraining order, the suit can still go forward, the judge's secretary said. That meant that Boudin could be released pending a hearing on that motion, should Lange order one.
Brent Newbury, head of the Rockland County PBA, said, "We're trying to right the wrong that was done last month," when the New York State Parole Board decided to release Boudin.
Newbury said that the two parole commissioners who questioned Boudin asked leading questions to help Boudin mold answers that would help her qualify for parole.
Boudin's attorney, Leonard Weinglass, did not return calls for comment.
