Subject: Chesa Boudin, son of Brinks robbery-murder convicts, is sworn in as San Francisco's top prosecutor

Chesa Boudin, son of Brinks robbery-murder convicts, is sworn in as San Francisco's top prosecutor

Nancy Cutler, Rockland/Westchester Journal NewsPublished 9:08 a.m. ET Jan. 9, 2020 | Updated 11:14 a.m. ET Jan. 9, 2020

Chesa Boudin was sworn in Wednesday night as district attorney of San Francisco as his mother, Kathy Boudin, a player in Rockland's notorious Brinks robbery, sat in the audience at a packed Herbst Theatre.

During his campaign, the 39-year-old former public defender recounted his childhood visiting his parents in prison — Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, erstwhile radicals affiliated with the Weather Underground.

Both were convicted of robbery and murder for their roles in the Oct. 20, 1981, Brinks armored car heist that started in Nanuet and launched a chase, roadblock and shootout and ended in Nyack.

Armored car guard Peter Paige, Nyack Police Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly “Chipper” Brown were slain that day. Nyack Police Detective Arthur Keenan and Brinks guard Joseph Trombino were shot but survived. Trombino was then injured in the 1993 World Trade Center terrorist attack and killed on Sept. 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center.

In 1981, Chesa Boudin was 14 months old. His parents had dropped him at the babysitter before they participated in the Brinks robbery. He has recounted in interviews that his earliest memories include visiting his parents in prison.

Kathy Boudin, who had pleaded guilty, served her sentence at Bedford Hills Correction Center and was released in 2003, in her third parole bid. Gilbert, who received a sentence of 75 years to life, remains in prison in upstate New York.

Restorative justice

In a speech after the swearing in, Boudin said he would immediately start implementing key parts of his platform, including ending cash bail, which aims to ensure poor people aren’t held before prosecution for lack of resources while wealthy suspects can pay for their release. The latter issue has begun a rocky implementation in New York.

Boudin focused much of his campaign on restorative justice. The concept is designed to give a crime victim more voice in the process of determining justice. Part of it includes the victim meeting with the perpetrator. The goal is to elicit true remorse from the convicted person and provide meaningful measures for the victim. Such programs are not a substitute for prison time, but in some cases participation is factored into sentencing. Kathy Boudin was the only one of her co-conspirators to accept a plea deal. In prison, she was credited for performing good works, including helping prisoners with AIDS. Her parole bids drew newspaper ads and commentary — in support of and against her freedom.

Chesa Boudin travels frequently to New York to visit his father. During his speech last night, the San Francisco Examiner reported that Boudin said of his father: "He taught me that we are all more than our worst mistakes. Thank you for teaching me about forgiveness and redemption.”

Mary Crowley, sister of Nyack Sgt. O'Grady, said on Facebook: "Was his father’s mistake getting caught or was it just a mistake that people were murdered that day? That was so much more than a mistake, it was a planned execution of innocent people who interceding in stopping the robbery and subsequently were executed."

Every October, a ceremony is held in memory of the three men killed and others injured at a memorial near the scene of the shootout along Mountainview Avenue in Nyack, near the entrance to the New York State Thruway.