GOVERNOR PATAKI SIGNS "PENNY'S
LAW"
July
22, 2003

After a four year fight for justice, considerable progress was made on
Tuesday, July, 22, as Governor George Pataki made "Penny's Law"
a reality in New York State by signing a compromised version of the bill into law.

Jerry Lockwood, the father of Penny Brown, speaks about the law named for
his daughter as Governor Pataki looks on before signing "Penny's
Law" .
Thank
You...
Governor
Pataki
Assemblywoman
Cathy Young
Janice
Grieshaber
Senator
Pat McGee
Assemblyman
Joseph Lentol
To
each and every one of our 650
Supporters!
Why
"Penny's" Law?

When
Penny Brown,
a well-known and respected nurse-midwife, was brutally raped and then strangled to death on
Mother's Day of 1999, her family, friends, colleagues and community of
Salamanca, NY were devastated. Devastation turned to despair when her 15-year-old
killer received only nine years to life in prison, the maximum
sentence allowed for brutally ending Penny's life. Penny's killer,
Edward Kindt, could be free to rape, brutalize, and murder again less than five years.
Frustration and anger over this cruel injustice became a grass-roots campaign to change the
juvenile sentencing law for murder in June of 2000. "Penny's Law," New York
State Assembly Bill #A.1628, named for Penny Brown, was then drafted. "Penny's
Law" originally sought to eliminate the sentencing distinction between juveniles and
adults for juveniles who are convicted of murder as adults. In other
words, while juveniles can be "tried" as adults for murder, they still must
be sentenced using juvenile guidelines in New York State. "Penny's
Law" was originally drafted to ensure that those young killers who are "tried" as adults for committing
cold-blooded murder would also be eligible for the adult sentence.
Originally, "Penny's Law" sought to increase
the sentencing range from the current five years to life- nine years to
life, to a proposed range of fifteen years to life to twenty-five years
to life (the adult murder sentence). The
original bill would have held 13, 14, and 15 year olds, who are tried as
adults with murder, criminally responsible and made them eligible for the adult
murder sentence. Despite overwhelming bipartisan support from throughout the state,
many
of the Downstate Democrats (including some of the members of the Assembly
leadership) strongly opposed "Penny's
Law," and so the
bill sat dormant in the Codes Committee of the Assembly.
Proponents of "Penny's Law" decided that some progress with the
juvenile sentencing law for murder would be better than none, and so in April
of 2003- with the help of some of the cautiously supportive Democratic
members of the Assembly, a compromised version of "Penny's Law" was
successfully passed
through both houses. The version passed authorizes the minimum sentence
for a 14 or 15 year old killer who is convicted as an adult to be between 7 and a half to 15 years, instead of the current 5 to 9.
The compromised bill falls significantly short of the 15-25 year
sentence "Penny's Law" proposed, and will not affect 13-year old
killers, who will still be sentenced under the old guidelines.
Although "Penny's Law" supporters are pleased, many are not
content, and a further increase in juvenile murder sentencing will likely
be pursued.
"Rape
is rape. Murder is murder. Youth is no excuse for either"
650
County Legislatures, District Attorneys, County Sheriff's Departments,
local government and police agencies, and other officials and organizations throughout New
York State have endorsed "Penny's Law" to date. See our
complete Supporter's
List.