Former New York governor George Pataki has called on Andrew Cuomo to speak out against the release of a man convicted of killing a 16-year-old girl in 1980 after it was revealed he could be back on the streets as soon as next Monday.
Richard LaBarbera was sentenced to 25 years for the second degree murder of Paula Bohevesky – who was hit in the head with a brick, stabbed five times and raped twice just one block away from her Pearl River home as she returned from the library.
A June 19 letter to her brother Peter said LaBarbera ‘will be released … on parole supervision on or about July 8, 2019’, the Journal News/lohud reported.
‘Final release date will be decided upon completion of an investigation by a parole office. Release could be earlier if the community plan is approved earlier.’
Paula Bohevesky (left) was hit in the head with a brick, stabbed five times and raped twice just one block away from her Pearl River home as she returned from the library and Richard LaBarbera (right) was sentenced to 25 years in prison but has been inside 38 years
Former New York governor George Pataki (left) has called on Andrew Cuomo (right) to speak out against the parole of Richard LaBarbera who killed Paula Bohevesky in 1980
Robert McCain, who was also convicted, has been up for parole every two years since 2005 with LaBarbera but it was denied after public outcry – including 1,000 people holding a vigil – caused the board to reject the possibility this week.
Now Pataki hopes the same will happen with LaBarbera if Cuomo steps in.
‘The governor can certainly ask the parole board to take another look and to look at the facts, to look at the lack of remorse, and if they did, they would have to see that this man should not be out in the streets,’ Pataki said Wednesday to Fox News.
‘I have been very careful about not commenting on state government policies since I left office, but this release of this rapist and murderer is so hideous to me, I really feel an obligation to speak out so that first, hopefully, it won’t happen, but if it sadly does, that it won’t happen again.’
Robert McCain, who was also convicted, has been up for parole every two years since 2005 with LaBarbera but it was denied after public outcry – including 1,000 people holding a vigil – caused the board to reject the possibility this week
Cuomo isn’t able to overrule the board’s decision.
LaBarbera, now 66, has been in prison for 38 years and is said to have shown remorse in his last parole hearing whereas McCain, 56, has not accepted full responsibility for his actions.
Both men were drinking at the High Wheeler Bar on Main Street when the teen was returning home from her part-time job at the library that October. Testimony said McCain hit her with a chunk of pavement and LaBarbera tried to sexually assault her when he thought she was dead.
But he stabbed her five times when he stirred.
LaBarbera said at his parole hearing he was wrong to watch while McCain attacked.
Only three members of the 12-person parole board were present when LaBarbera’s release was granted and full transcripts were not available.
Non-profit organization Petition for Paula filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court Wednesday in an attempt to delay LaBarbera’s release.
They want another hearing with all members.
LaBarbera will have to stay away from drugs and alcohol as part of the conditions. He’ll be sent back to prison if he commits a crime and has been ordered to stay away from the victim’s family.
Petition for Paula is also pushing for LaBarbera not to be allowed to live within five counties of the deceased girl’s mother Lois Bohovesky.
Mother Bohovesky and the non-profit insisted LaBarbera had never showed he regretted his actions.
They have also called for Cuomo to speak up.
Cuomo isn’t able to overrule the board’s decision but the deceased girl’s mother Lois Bohovesky and non-profit organization Petition for Paula has asked the governor to speak
‘He wasn’t paroled because of anything related to his heinous, brutal actions,’ Lois Bohovesky told her friend Robert Baird, a former editor and columnist for The Journal News, last month when the news was announced.
‘It’s all about the state’s desire to reduce the prison population. We can only hope that LaBarbera doesn’t return to Rockland, instead opting to live elsewhere with relatives.’
In April 2018 the same board paroled Herman Bell – convicted of killing two cops in 1971 – and last July did the same for Marybeth Tinning, who was convicted of killing her infant daughter in 1985 and suspected of killing seven of her eight children.
‘You know, I’ve seen this attitude in the past, that criminals aren’t violent thugs who belong behind bars, they are victims of society and somehow we have to understand their motives,’ Pataki continued to Fox News. ‘Well, I’m not interested in understanding the motive here, it was a barbaric, hideous murder, that’s enough for me.’
Pataki said Wednesday: ‘The governor can certainly ask the parole board to take another look and to look at the facts, to look at the lack of remorse, and if they did, they would have to see that this man should not be out in the streets’