Assemblyman Kevin Byrne (R,C,Ref-Mahopac) joined Assembly colleagues in Albany calling for passage of Romano’s Law, a legislative proposal (A.6663) to extend the maximum amount of time for parole reconsideration for prisoners convicted of violent crimes such as; Murder in the First Degree, Aggravated Murder, Murder in the Second Degree, Rape in the First Degree, Sodomy in the First Degree and Predatory Sexual Assault Against a Child. The proposal seeks to prevent victims from reliving the horrors of the crime during parole hearings as frequently. Byrne is a co-sponsor of the bill which was introduced by Assemblyman Joseph M. Giglio (R,C,I-Gowanda).
“Victims and their families should not be forced to relive these horrific crimes over and over again,” said Byrne. “Despite being behind bars, victimizers still have control over their victims by victims being forced to relive the memory of the heinous crime every two years. Victims have already had to live through this more times than anyone ever should have to. We need to move forward and help them maintain some normalcy to their lives by pushing parole reconsideration for heinous crimes from two years up to five years.”
“Ramona’s Law addresses the concerns of a group of people whose voices have not been heard in a long time,” said Giglio. “Victims and families of victims should not be forced to relive, every two years, the pain of what they experienced. Together we can help alleviate some of their pain and assist survivors to heal and grow.”
Ramona’s Law is named after Ramona Bantle-Fahy, a survivor of sexual assault and kidnapping whose attacker was recently up for parole after serving 25 years for the heinous crime. Though he was denied, Bantle-Fahy is pushing for this legislation so other victims don’t have to continually go through the same thing she has.