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The New York Attorney General’s Office told a judge that Richard LaBarbera has been reassigned to a parole officer in Buffalo when he is released from prison this week. LaBarbera was also ordered to steer clear of Bohovesky’s mother, Lois.
Initially, LaBarbera was to be assigned to a parole officer in Peekskill. A judge has since ruled that LaBarbera must stay at least three counties away.
In October 1980, LaBarbera and Robert McCain attacked 16-year-old Paula Bohovesky, an honor student who was picked up off the street a few blocks from her Pearl River home. She was “brutally” beaten, stabbed and left alone to die in a pool of her own blood with her clothes strewn about.
Two days after the attack on Bohovesky, both LaBarbera and McCain - who was denied parole - were arrested and charged in connection to Bohovesky’s death, which the medical examiner called “the most brutal he had ever seen” at the time of her death.
LaBarbera’s scheduled release led to uproar from local officials, including former Gov. George Pataki, who is petitioning current Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Parole Board to reconsider the decision.
“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 told 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
In a statement, Rockland County Legislator Alden Wolfe condemned the decision to grant LaBarbera parole, calling it “a complete insult to Paula’s memory and to the life she could have lived if not for the monstrous actions of her convicted killers.”
Wolfe noted that “neither killer has ever taken responsibility for their deeds nor showed remorse.”
“Paula’s mother and brother will never be free of this loss, and they will never be paroled from the pain and suffering this crime has caused them,” he added. “I utterly condemn this parole and the parole board for this unexplainable and despicable decision.
“I send my sincerest condolences to Mrs. Bohovesky, to Paula’s brother Peter and to all who continue to miss Paula. I also want to thank all of those who have worked so hard for so many years to help keep these killers behind the prison bars where they belong. This reprehensible decision has nothing to do with the supporters of the Bohovesky family, but everything to do with a disgraceful parole board ruling.”
In a 2009 letter to the Parole Board at the Great Meadow Correctional Facility, Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe emphatically urged members to deny both men’s parole requests.
“Throughout the day and evening of Oct. 28, 1980, the inmate and co-defendant Robert McCain were drinking at a local bar. Sometime after 7 p.m., when Paula left the library, the inmate and co-defendant saw her walking alone past the bar and began to follow her.
“(Paula) was viciously struck in the head with a rock and then pursued as she attempted to escape down a driveway. (She) was caught and overpowered, being knocked to the ground. She was then viciously beat about the head and neck until she was unconscious. (McCain) then pulled her pants down and raped her as the inmate watched.” happen, but if it sadly does, that it won't happen again.”
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