By Jacob Kaye<\/p>\n
The Queens District Attorney asked a parole board last week not to release the Queens man convicted of the 1988 murder of rookie NYPD officer Edward Byrne, whose killing sparked outrage nationwide and kickstarted a police crackdown on the violent crack gangs that dominated the city. <\/p>\n
In a letter to the state\u2019s parole board shared with the media this week, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz urged the board to deny parole to David McClary, one of four men ordered by Queens drug kingpin Howard \u201cPappy\u201d Mason to kill the young police officer. <\/p>\n
Katz said McClary shouldn\u2019t be released because he had taken too long to admit to his role in Byrne\u2019s murder, one of the most notorious killings of an NYPD officer in the city\u2019s history, and because he had yet to fully explain why he pulled the trigger and shot Byrne in the head five times as he sat in his police car in South Jamaica.<\/p>\n
The letter marks the second time Katz has asked the board to keep McClary, who has served 38 years of his 25 years to life sentence, behind bars. McClary, who became eligible for parole in 2012, has been denied release by the parole board eight times. <\/p>\n
\u201cNearly six years have passed since I wrote my initial letter in opposition to David McClary\u2019s release and my position has not wavered,\u201d Katz said in a statement. \u201cThis execution was nothing short of an act of domestic terrorism designed to challenge the long established and universally accepted laws of civilized society.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cMcClary and his accomplices killed an on-duty police officer in an attempt to disrupt the safety of our city on the most fundamental level,\u201d she added. \u201cHe should remain behind bars where he belongs.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Katz has urged the parole board to reject McClary\u2019s bid for release, the Queens man\u2019s family, criminal justice advocates and a former commissioner on the parole board have called on the board to allow him to leave prison. McClary and his supporters have said he has reformed himself over the nearly four decades he\u2019s been in prison and that he shouldn\u2019t be seen only for the violent murder he committed when he was 22 years old. <\/p>\n
\u201cDavid has not only transformed his own thinking and behavior, but he has also helped many younger people make the same transformation throughout the decades,\u201d Jose Saldana, the director of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, said in a statement to the Eagle. \u201cHe meets every criterion for release to parole supervision, including a clear record of rehabilitation, the lowest possible risk of reoffending according to the board\u2019s own assessment, and a robust release plan.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cKeeping him in prison may serve an insatiable appetite for vengeance, but it would not advance justice \u2013 and certainly not public safety,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Byrne was guarding the home of a Queens man whose house had been firebombed twice with Molotov cocktails after he had called the police to report two alleged drug dealers standing on the corner of Inwood Street and 107th Avenue, where he lived. <\/p>\n
Byrne was alone in his squad car when four men drove up in a car next to him. One of the men, Todd Scott, got out and tapped on the passenger side window. <\/p>\n
With Byrne distracted, McClary fired five shots at the officer\u2019s head, killing him instantly. <\/p>\n
The murder made national headlines and found its way to the White House, where then-President George H. W. Bush kept Byrne\u2019s police shield on his desk in the Oval Office \u201cas a reminder of one man’s sacrifice against the forces of lawlessness,\u201d Katz said in her letter to the parole board. <\/p>\n
McClary was put on trial separately from his three accomplices, because the four men had given conflicting statements about who pulled the trigger and killed Byrne. Prosecutors similarly gave little clarity about who the gunman was, at times saying McClary had been the only one to fire at Byrne while other times saying he had \u201cacted in concert\u201d with the others, according to the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n McClary was convicted in June 1989 amid \u201cbursts of applause\u201d from the hundreds of officers gathered in the courtroom, according to reporting by the New York Times. <\/p>\n After being sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, McClary was placed in solitary confinement, where he remained for four years. He later sued the state over the lengthy amount of time in solitary and was awarded $660,000 by a federal jury.<\/p>\n According to McClary\u2019s family, the Queens man participated in a number of programs while in prison, received his GED and now leads classes on financial literacy, accountability and community repair. <\/p>\n