Panel May Decide on Velella Today
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The panel that released a former state senator, Guy Velella, from Rikers Island three months into a one-year sentence could decide today whether to send the longtime Bronx politician back to jail.
The four-member Local Conditional Release Commission, which was revamped by Mayor Bloomberg after controversy erupted over its decision to free Velella, is holding a closed-door meeting today.
Though Mr. Bloomberg has refused to say whether he thinks Velella, who was convicted on bribery charges, should be sent back to jail, he has repeatedly said that the former senator should never have been released.
“I do not think they should have been released in the first place,” he told reporters yesterday.
“If you get a sentence, you should serve it.”
The city Department of Investigation and Law Department bolstered that position when they determined that the commission had violated procedures when it voted on the release of Velella and his co-defendants in the case, Hector Del Toro and Manuel Gonzalez, in September.
The investigations department found that there was not a majority of members present when the commission voted on the release. The members of the original commission, which until this controversial decision was virtually unknown, resigned under pressure. The mayor appointed the four new members.
Last night, the former senator’s lawyer, Charles Stillman, said he was hoping for the best. “We just sitting here crossing our fingers,” he said during a brief phone conversation.
Mr. Stillman sent the commission a 22-page letter earlier this week, criticizing it for requiring Velella to re-apply for early release. He argued that the decision had already been made and opted not to re-apply. His letter, however, essentially laid out his case.
The Velella camp says the process has been tainted by political influence, noting that Mr. Bloomberg clearly wants Velella and his partners back at Rikers.
The mayor, who has attempted to distance himself from the commission’s impropriety, said this week that it’s “totally up to the board.”
The previous commission had received about 7,000 applications this year from people whose terms were for one year or less.
It released only five, including the three in this case.
