Monday, January 23, 2017

Judith Clark American Radical

Judith Clark American Radical --- ===


Her parents were members of the American Communist Party for many years. As an infant, Clark lived in the Soviet Union from 1950 to 1953. After the family returned home to the U.S., her parents withdrew from the Communist Party, disillusioned with the Soviet Union.[2]  Became former Weather Underground member The Brink's robbery of 1981 was an armed robbery and three related murders committed on ... They stole $1.6 million in cash from a Brink's armored car at the Nanuet Mall, in Nanuet, New York, As the men escaped from the robbery, the van into which they had switched was stopped by a police barricade and two Nyack police officers, Waverly Brown and Edward O'Grady, were killed during the gun battle that ensued.[9] Clark was the driver of a nearby getaway car, into which one of the robbers and David Gilbert jumped after the gun battle. After a car chase, Clark was arrested. harged with three counts of felony murder and was tried together with David Gilbert and Kuwesi Balagoon.  Clark's sentence remains 75 years to life imprisonment;n December 2016, Gov Cuomo Clark's sentence was commuted to 35 years to life, making her eligible for parole in 2017.[1]



Brink's robbery (1981)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Terrorist group called "The Family"
For the Brink's robbery of 1950, see Great Brink's Robbery.
Brink's robbery of 1981
LocationNanuet, New York
Coordinates41°05′46″N 74°00′58″WCoordinates: 41°05′46″N 74°00′58″W
DateOctober 20, 1981
TargetBrinks armored car
Attack type
Robbery
Deaths3
PerpetratorsMay 19th Communist Organization
(Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground members)
The Brink's robbery of 1981 was an armed robbery and three related murders committed on October 20, 1981, which were carried out by six Black Liberation Army members: (1) Jeral Wayne Williams (a.k.a. Mutulu Shakur), (2) Donald Weems (a.k.a. Kuwasi Balagoon), (3) Samuel Brown (a.k.a. Solomon Bouines), (4) Samuel Smith, (5) Nathaniel Burns (a.k.a. Sekou Odinga), and (6) Cecilio "Chui" Ferguson; and four former members of the Weather Underground, now belonging to the May 19th Communist Organization, including (7) David Gilbert, (8) Judith Alice Clark, (9) Kathy Boudin, and (10) Marilyn Buck.[1]
They stole $1.6 million in cash from a Brink's armored car at the Nanuet Mall, in Nanuet, New York, killing a Brink's guard, Peter Paige, seriously wounding Brinks guard Joseph Trombino, and subsequently killing two Nyack police officers, Edward O'Grady and Waverly Brown (the first African American member of the Nyack, New York police department).[2] Trombino recovered from the wounds he received in this incident but was killed in 2001 in the September 11 attacks.[3]

e May 19th Communist Organization (also variously referred to as the May 19 Coalition, May 19 Communist Coalition, and various alternatives of M19CO), was a US-based, self-described revolutionary organization formed by members of the Weather Underground Organization. The group was originally known as the New York chapter of the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC), an organization devoted to legally promoting the causes of the Weather Underground. This was part of Prairie Fire Manifesto change in Weather Underground Organization strategy, which demanded both aboveground mass and clandestine organizations. The role of the clandestine organization would be to build the "consciousness of action" and prepare the way for the development of a people's militia. Concurrently, the role of the mass movement (i.e., above ground Prairie Fire Collective) would include support for, and encouragement of, armed action. Such an alliance would, according to Weather, "help create the 'sea' for the guerrillas to swim in." [1] The M19CO name was derived from the birthdays of Ho Chi Minh and Malcolm X. The May 19 Communist Organization was active from 1978 to 1985. M19CO was a combination of the Black Liberation Army and the Weather Underground. It also included members of the Black Panthers and the Republic of New Africa (RNA).[2] [3]

Objectives[edit]

This alliance between the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army had three objectives:
  • Free political prisoners in US prisons
  • Appropriate capitalist wealth (armed robberies) to fund the third stage, and
  • Initiate a series of bombings and terrorist attacks [4]

Activities[edit]

From 1982 to 1985 M19CO committed a series of bombings, including bombings of the National War College, the Washington Navy Yard Computing Center, the Israeli Aircraft Industries Building, New York City's South African consulate, the Washington Navy Yard Officers' Club, New York City's Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, and the United States Capitol Building. Three officers were killed during the Brinks Robbery, but no one was injured or killed in their bombings.[5] Almost all the M19CO members were all convicted in a US Court of Law for these offenses, but Elizabeth Ann Duke remains at large.
  • In 1981 Weather Underground members Kathy Boudin, Judith Alice Clark, and David Gilbert, together with several members of the Black Liberation Army, participated in the robbery of a Brinks armored car at the Nanuet Mall, near Nyack, New York, during which a Brinks guard and two Nyack police officers were killed. Upon her arrest Boudin was identified as a member of the May 19 Communist Organization.
  • Jan. 28, 1983, M19CO bombed the federal building on Staten Island, N.Y.
  • April 25, 1983, they were responsible for a bombing at the National War College at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C.
  • November 7th, 1983 US Senate Bombing
  • August 18, 1983, bombed Washington Navy Yard Computer Center
  • April 5, 1984, Bombed the Israeli Aircraft Industries Building
  • April 20, 1984, bombing at the Washington Navy Yard Officers Club
  • On November 3, 1984, two members of the M19CO, Susan Rosenberg and Timothy Blunk, were arrested at a mini-warehouse they had rented in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Police recovered more than 100 blasting caps, nearly 200 sticks of dynamite, more than 100 cartridges of gel explosive, and 24 bags of blasting agent from the warehouse.
  • September 26, 1984, bombed the South African consulate
  • The M19CO alliance’s last bombing was on February 23, 1985, at the Policemen’s Benevolent Association in New York City.

Kathy Boudin
Kathy Boudin (born May 19, 1943) was a member of the far-left ...

Judith Alice Clark
Judith Alice "Judy" Clark (born November 23, 1949) is an ...

Her parents were members of the American Communist Party for many years. As an infant, Clark lived in the Soviet Union from 1950 to 1953. After the family returned home to the U.S., her parents withdrew from the Communist Party, disillusioned with the Soviet Union.[2]

Judith Alice Clark

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other people named Judy Clark, see Judy Clark (disambiguation).
Judith Alice "Judy" Clark (born November 23, 1949) is an American convicted of felony murder for her involvement in the Brink's robbery of 1981 in Nyack, New York. During the 1960s and 1970s she was a radical political activist, and became a member of the Weather Underground Organization and participated in much of its political agitation and criminal activities. Still pursued by police after the WUO's dissolution in the mid-1970s, Clark continued her course independently through the rest of the decade, working frequently with other radical and extremist groups including the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army. She was sentenced to the maximum penalty allowed by law, and is currently serving a sentence of 75-years-to-life at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York. In December 2016, Clark's sentence was commuted to 35 years to life, making her eligible for parole in 2017.[1]

Family[edit]

Clark was born on November 23, 1949. She grew up in a Jewish[2] family with her older brother and parents, Ruth Clark and Joe Clark.[2] Her parents were members of the American Communist Party for many years. As an infant, Clark lived in the Soviet Union from 1950 to 1953. After the family returned home to the U.S., her parents withdrew from the Communist Party, disillusioned with the Soviet Union.[2]

Political activism[edit]

Judith Clark became active in the Civil Rights Movement at the age of 14 when she was in junior high school. She participated in the New York City-wide boycott led by the African American community in Brooklyn calling for equality in education. Throughout high school she was a member of Student CORE. She went to the University of Chicago where she joined Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and helped to found the Women's Radical Action Project, one of the first organizations of the early women's liberation movement.[3]

Weather Underground Organization[edit]

In 1969, Clark participated in the "Days of Rage" in Chicago, and she was arrested, along with several hundreds of others, for "mob action."[4] Clark jumped bail and was considered a "fugitive from justice." When she was caught, she pleaded guilty and served nine months in Cook County Jail in Chicago.
Two months after her release, there was a prison uprising at Attica. In its wake, Clark was one of the founders of The Midnight Special, a newspaper affiliated with the National Lawyers Guild. Clark was also a member of the Women's Bail Fund and worked in support of political prisoners.[5]
When the May 19th Communist Organization was founded in 1976, Clark became a member, continuing her work as someone who visited political prisoners.[6] She was a named petitioner in the lawsuit Clark v. U.S.A., which challenged the FBI's Cointelpro Program. That suit was eventually settled in the plaintiffs' favor.
Ultimately, May 19 became an isolated remnant of the dwindling "anti-imperialist" movement, and Clark became more isolated from society at large.[7]

Brink's robbery[edit]

Main article: Brink's robbery (1981)
On October 20, 1981, a Brink's armored truck was robbed of $1.6 million by six men at the Nanuet Mall in Nyack, New York.[8] [9] During the robbery, Peter Paige, a Brink's guard, was killed and guard Joseph Trombino was seriously injured.[9] As the men escaped from the robbery, the van into which they had switched was stopped by a police barricade and two Nyack police officers, Waverly Brown and Edward O'Grady, were killed during the gun battle that ensued.[9] Clark was the driver of a nearby getaway car, into which one of the robbers and David Gilbert jumped after the gun battle. After a car chase, Clark was arrested. Also arrested at the scene was Kathy Boudin, who served 22 years in prison and has been released on parole.

Trial[edit]

Clark was charged with three counts of felony murder and was tried together with David Gilbert and Kuwesi Balagoon. They refused to be represented by counsel; instead, they decided to represent themselves. But when they refused to adhere to decorum of the courtroom, they were banned from the courtroom and ended up sitting in cells in the basement, where the trial was piped in over a speaker system. No standby counsel was appointed to represent them. All three were convicted of all charges and each was sentenced to three consecutive 25-year-to-life sentences. Boudin, who was represented by counsel, entered a plea of guilty to a single count of felony murder and received a sentence of 20 years to life.

Prison[edit]

Clark's sentence remains 75 years to life imprisonment;[10] she has been incarcerated at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility since 1983.[2][10] In September 1985, letters implicating Clark in a possible escape plan were found. She was charged with conspiracy to escape and sentenced to two years in solitary confinement in the Special Housing Unit (SHU).[2] In SHU, Clark began a process of self-reflection, which ultimately led to her renouncing her status as a "political prisoner," and publicly apologizing for the crime.[2][11]

Education[edit]

Clark earned her bachelor's degree in 1990 from Mercy College and gave the valedictorian address.[2] In 1993, Clark earned her Masters in Psychology from a graduate program of Vermont College of Norwich University.[2] She is currently working on her Ed.D in Psychology and Theology. Clark was one of the two first prisoners in New York State to receive certification as a chaplain after completing three years of clinical pastoral education, after which she worked as a chaplain's assistant for seven years.[12]

Other activities[edit]

In 1987, Clark (with Kathy Boudin and other prisoners) helped found and develop the curriculum for the AIDS Counseling and Education (ACE) Program in prison.[12] The program was designed to build peer-to-peer support and education around the AIDS epidemic.[13] Both Clark and Boudin have published articles on ACE in Social Justice and The Columbia Journal of Gender and Law (1991). The articles were cited in a 1990 U.S Department of Justice Report on AIDS in prison.[2]
Clark was a founding member of the Inmate Advisory Committee and was instrumental in bringing a college program to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in 1996,[12] through the joint effort of administration, inmates, and community members after state funding cut all college programs for prisoners. The college program has graduated more than 100 prisoners, and Clark continues to work with and encourage students in the degree program.
Clark has been on the staff of the Nursery Program at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility since 1993, teaching pre-natal and parenting classes, facilitating group discussions, and acting as an informal mentor of incarcerated mothers.[2][12]
Clark has participated in a number of writing groups, including one led for twelve years by poet Hettie Jones.[2][14] Clark is among the inmates at Bedford Hills featured in the 2003 documentary What I Want My Words To Do To You,[15] about a writing workshop in the prison led by playwright and activist Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues.
Clark's work has appeared in publications, such as The New Yorker, The Prison Journal, and in anthologies of prison writing, including Doing Time and Hauling Up the Morning: Writings & Art by Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in the U.S. She has won several awards for her poetry in the annual PEN prison writing contest.[2]
Clark is a long-time dedicated member of the Puppies Behind Bars program at Bedford Hills,[12] through which inmates raise and train puppies to become guide dogs for the blind, explosive detection dogs for law enforcement agencies, and service dogs for disabled people, primarily veterans.[16][17]

Appeals[edit]

Habeas[edit]

In 2006, a United States District Court granted Clark a writ of habeas corpus, reversing her conviction on the grounds that she was deprived of her Sixth Amendment right to counsel.[18]The court ruled: "During the prosecutor's opening statement and during the government's entire direct case against defendants, which spanned at least seven trial days, no one was present in the courtroom to represent Clark's interests. Clark was without assistance of counsel for her defense, in clear abrogation of her Sixth Amendment right to counsel."[18]However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the district court's decision on the grounds that Clark had procedurally defaulted on her claim by not raising it on direct appeal before the state court, and also had knowingly and intelligently waived her Sixth Amendment rights by choosing to represent herself.[19] Clark has no further legal avenues for relief. Clark will be eligible for parole in 2056, when she would be 107 years old.[20]

Clemency[edit]

Clark petitioned Governor Paterson for clemency in 2010. More than 900 people wrote letters in support of her petition, including: Robert Dennison, the former chairperson of Parole under Governor Pataki; Elaine Lord, the superintendent of Bedford Hills for the first 22 years of Clark's incarceration; and Frank Olivier, a corrections officer of 23 years who grew up with one of the deceased as a role model.[21]
Lord wrote to the governor, "I watched her change into one of the most perceptive, thoughtful, helpful and profound human beings that I have ever known, either inside or outside of a prison." Dennison wrote that she was "the most worthy candidate for clemency that I’ve ever seen."[22]
Judith Clark is currently represented by Sara Bennett, formerly a Legal Aid attorney and chair of the Wrongful Convictions Project.[23]
In December 2016 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo commuted Clark's life sentence, making her eligible for parole in 2017.[1]

In popular culture[edit]

Clark was a model for a character in David Mamet's play The Anarchist.[24]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jump up to:a b Rosenberg, Eli (DEC. 30, 2016). "Commutes Sentence of Judith Clark, Driver in Deadly Brink's Robbery". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 January 2017. Check date values in: |date=(help)
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l Judy Clark Affidavit
  3. Jump up^ Kirkpatrick Sales, SDS: The rise and development of the Students for a Democratic Society, Vintage (1973)
  4. Jump up^ Harold Jacobs, ed., Weatherman, Ramparts (1970); Jeremy Varon, Bringing the War Home, University of California (2004)
  5. Jump up^ Max Elbaum, Revolution in the Air, Verso (2002)
  6. Jump up^ Dan Berger, The Hidden 1970s, Rutgers University Press (2010)
  7. Jump up^ G. Zwerman and P. Steinhoff, "When Activists Ask for Trouble," Repression and Resistance, University of Minnesota (2004); G. Zwerman, P. Steinhoff, and D. della Porta, "Disappearing Social Movements," Mobilization 5:1 (2000)
  8. Jump up^ See People v. Brown, 525 N.Y.S.2d 618, 620 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dep't 1988) (saying the shooters were "as many as six armed men").
  9. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Rockland Officials to Cuomo: Don't Free Brinks Robbery Getaway Driver". 2 December 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  10. ^ Jump up to:a b New York State Department of Corrections Inmate Population Information Search, last visited May 13, 2012.
  11. Jump up^ Fortune News; Rockland Journal.
  12. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Judy Clark Resume
  13. Jump up^ Breaking the Walls of Silence: AIDS and Women in a New York State Maximum Security Prison (Overlook Hardcover 1998)
  14. Jump up^ New School Faculty Page for Hettie Jones
  15. Jump up^ What I Want My Words To Do To You, PBS, premiered December 16, 2003
  16. Jump up^ Puppies Behind Bars website
  17. Jump up^ Spirit Magazine, How Mya Saved Jacob
  18. ^ Jump up to:a b Clark v. Perez, 450 F. Supp. 2d 396 (S.D.N.Y. 2006)
  19. Jump up^ Clark v. Perez, 510 F.3d 382 (2d Cir. 2008)
  20. Jump up^ Judy Clark Quick Facts
  21. Jump up^ Judith Clark's Radical Transformation, N.Y. Times Magazine (Jan. 12, 2012)
  22. Jump up^ Judy Clark Letters of Support
  23. Jump up^ Public Lives: Defending Those Not Likely to Be Called Choirboys, N.Y. Times (Sept. 25, 2002)
  24. Jump up^ Lahr, John (10 December 2012). "Rough Justice". The New Yorker. Retrieved 29 July 2015.

Further reading[edit]

  • Jacobs, Ron (1997). The Way The Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground. New York: Verso. ISBN 1859841678.
  • Gilbert, David (2012) Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond. Oakland: PM Press. ISBN 9781604863192.

External links[edit]


Judith Clark personal website
What I Want My Words To Do To You, PBS, premiered December 16, 2003


Clarkstown police investigating bank incident
www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2016/11/18/central...bank-robbery/94083314/
Nov 18, 2016 - Clarkstown police are investigating an incident at a bank on Route 59 in Central Nyack on Friday.

Ceremony to mark 35 years since Brinks robbery slayings in Nyack
www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2016/10/17/...robbery.../92288064/
Oct 17, 2016 - Armed robbers shot Paige dead while stealing $1.6 million at the Nanuet National Bank at the Nanuet Mall off Route 59. The robbery and fatal ...

Judith Clark Sued FBI for Harassment While Engaging in ...
Breitbart News10 hours ago
Jan 23, 2017 · ... American Black Liberation Army, Clark drove coked-up gunmen to a mall in Nanuet, New York, to rob a Brink’s truck. ... radical robbers ...

Judith Clark Sued FBI for Harassment While Engaging in ...
https://epeak.info/?p=35953
... Black Liberation Army, Clark drove coked-up gunmen to a mall in Nanuet, New York, to rob a Brink’s truck. ... Brink’s truck. After the robbers killed a ...


Judith Clark Sued FBI for Harassment While Engaging in Domestic Terrorism
Breitbart News · 2 days ago
In 1981, in a joint action of the largely white May 19 Communist Organization and largely African American Black Liberation Army, Clark drove coked-up gunmen to a mall …

Judith Clark’s Radical Transformation - The New York Times
www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/magazine/judith-clarks-radical...
... weapons tried to rob a Brink’s truck in a shopping mall in Nanuet ... caravan north from New York City to Nanuet. ... a Black Liberation Army ...


Cuomo Commutes Sentence of Judith Clark, Driver in Deadly Brink's ...
www.nytimes.com/.../cuomo-commutes-sentence-of-judith-clark-driver-in-deadly-brink...Dec 30, 2016 - Andrew M. Cuomo, citing what he called Ms. Clark's long sentence and “exceptional strides in self-development” commuted her sentence on ...

Governor Cuomo Commutes Sentence For Driver In Deadly Brinks ...
newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/12/31/judith-clark-sentence-commuted/
Dec 31, 2016 - Judith Clark, a former Weather Underground member, has served 35 ... “For Governor Cuomo to even think of commuting the sentence of a ...he Democratic governor’s office noted that Clark “received one of the longest sentences of her six co-defendants, the majority of whom are either deceased or no longer in custody” and “received the same sentence as one of the known shooters.” Cuomo’s office also said Clark has been a model prisoner, tutoring other inmates, training service dogs and founding an HIV/AIDS education program while behind bars.  But the governor’s decision outraged Michael Paige, whose father, Brinks security guard Peter Paige, was killed in the $1.6 million holdup. Less than an hour after Paige’s killing, two Nyack police officers, Waverly Brown and Sgt. Edward O’Grady, stopped a truck at a roadside checkpoint and were killed in an ambush.... “For Governor Cuomo to even think of commuting the sentence of a triple murderer who murdered police officers and my father — that, to me, is the gravest form of injustice to these three men, who were killed standing their ground and protecting us,” Paige said by phone.

Cuomo commutes sentence of Brinks robbery getaway driver | New ...
nypost.com/2016/12/.../cuomo-commutes-sentence-of-brinks-robbery-getaway-driver...
Dec 30, 2016 - In a bombshell move, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday commuted the 75-year-to-lifesentence of Judith Clark, the former Weather Underground radical who was convicted for her role in the infamous 1981 Brinks robbery in which two Nyack police officers and an armored truck driver were ...

Judith Clark, Getaway Driver In Brink's Armored Car Robbery, Has ...
gothamist.com/2016/12/31/judith_clark_sentence_commuted_cuomo.php
Dec 31, 2016 - In a statement, Cuomo said commuting Clark's sentence is "one more step toward a more just, more fair, and more compassionate New York for ...

Gov. Cuomo Commutes Sentence of Radical Leftist Terrorist Judith Clark
www.frontpagemag.com/.../gov-cuomo-commutes-sentence-radical-leftist-joseph-klei...
Jan 3, 2017 - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has decided to commute the sentence of a domestic terrorist, Judith Alice Clark, who willingly participated ...


Governor Cuomo commutes life sentence of Judith Clark | Daily Mail ...
www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Governor-Cuomo-commutes-life-sentence-Judith-Clark-drove-...Dec 31, 2016 - Gov Andrew Cuomo commuted the sentence of Judith Clark, 67, a former radical who drove a getaway car during deadly $1.6million Brink's car ...

Brinks murders: Judith Clark may be released
www.lohud.com/story/news/politics/politics...murders-judith-clark.../96007734/
Dec 30, 2016 - ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday commuted Judith Clark's life sentence, allowing the 67-year-old once self-proclaimed revolutionary ...


Judy Clark, Violent Jewish Radical, Could Go Free After Gov. Andrew ...
forward.com/.../jailed-jewish-radicals-75-year-prison-sentence-is-commuted-by-gov-a...
Jan 4, 2017 - Jailed Jewish Radical's 75-Year Prison Sentence Is Commuted by Gov. ... Judith Clark, a veteran of the Weather Underground and other violent ...
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