When state Supreme Court Justice John Kelley looked at why the getaway driver in the deadly 1981 Brinks robbery was denied parole, he decided that the state Parole Board paid too much attention to the seriousness of the crime and not enough to whether Judith Clark's release posed a danger to society.

He granted her Article 78 petition and called the board's denial of her parole in the robbery, which resulted in the deaths of two Nyack police officers and a Brinks security guard, arbitrary and capricious.

While the Parole Board acknowledged her favorable risk assessment, It said it was persuaded by statements of survivors and public sentiment opposing the release of the former Weather Underground revolutionary. “You are still a symbol of violent and terroristic crime,” the board wrote.

“Although a parole board must consider the seriousness of the crime, it must nevertheless do so in conjunction with the other factors enumerated in the statute and it must conduct a risk assessment analysis to determine if an inmate has been rehabilitated and is ready for release,” Kelley wrote.