Two New York women locked up for killing their abusive partners received Thursday early Christmas, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo granted them clemency to them and 19 other convicted criminals.
The women – Theresa Debo and Maria Ordóñez – had their sentences commuted by the governor.
“In New York, we believe the law should be fair and compassionate,” Cuomo said in a statement.
“Those who receive commutation commutations have undergone a successful rehabilitation, have shown genuine remorse for their actions, and have shown themselves worthy of an opportunity to re-enter society.”
Both women had nocturnal childhoods full of damage and neglect, the governor’s office said in a statement.
Throughout his adult life, Debo, now 64, went in and out of abusive relationships, including the man who was convicted of shootings and killings in 2006.
The woman from downtown New York said she feared for her life and acted in self-defense during one of her drunken outbursts.
He was sentenced to 22 years in life, of which he has already served 16 years.
For her part, Ordóñez was only 20 years old when she killed her abusive boyfriend while beating and drowning her.
She was convicted of first-degree homologous homicide in 2018 and has since served six of her nine-year sentences.
The women were part of seven people who received their long prison sentences by the governor.
A Vietnam veterinarian, Arnold Raimondo, 70, has spent nearly 40 years behind bars after being convicted of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in 1983 and sentenced to 50 years in life.
Raimondo enlisted at just 17 years old and “on his return, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder which manifested in destructive behavior,” the statement said.
Clifton Williamson, now 43, will also be released after serving a 25-year life sentence for crimes committed in 1996 and 1997.
At just 18 he was convicted of murder, despite not being the one to pull the trigger.
Fourteen people were pardoned for crimes such as petty theft, attempted robbery, forgery and criminal sale or possession of a controlled substance, and several faced the prospect of unforgivable deportation.
Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, usually pardons New Yorkers at the end of the year.
His gesture also follows a series of controversial leniency granted by President Donald Trump earlier this week, his former campaign president Paul Manafort, political consultant Roger Stone and the disgraced former US MP Chris Collins who he was convicted of privileged trade charges.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, prison rights advocates have pressured the Cuomo administration to authorize additional pardons for older inmates and individuals committed to immunity, as the state prison system has experienced a number of outbreaks.
As for outbreaks between inmates and staff, they have closed visits to a number of prisons across the state, including those that house some of the most dangerous criminals in the Empire State in maximum security facilities such as Attica Correctional Wende Correctional near Buffalo and Clinton Correctional in Dannemora near the Canadian Border.
Earlier this spring, the governor granted the release of more than 1,000 low-level probation offenders who mentioned infection concerns.