The state is poised to release its 42nd police officer killer in the past seven years from prison as the officer’s family fights to keep the career criminal behind bars, The Post says. reported.
On October 20, 1982, Brownsville, Brooklyn police officer James Whittington was off duty when he encountered Mitchell Martin, an armed felon who was fighting with a woman.
Mr Whittington chased Mr Martin in an attempt to arrest him, but after a scuffle between the two, Mr Martin fatally shot the officer at point-blank range.
Whittington was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison and has been in prison since August 1983.
The parole board is expected to consider the 66-year-old’s release from Elmira in June.
The police officer’s daughter, Nicole Denby, will be pleading with the parole board to keep Martin in prison, a grueling task the family endures every two years.
“As you know, my father’s life sentence began 42 years ago,” said his 47-year-old mother.
“He’s in Greenwood Cemetery, and that’s his place. That’s also when my mother’s life sentence started. She’s 83 years old and has never remarried.”
“We are forever in a life sentence.”
Martin first applied for parole in 2014.
“Up until then, I felt safe,” said Mr. Denby, who works for Amazon in Manhattan. “We thought life had meaning forever.”
Now, every two years, “we’re always reopening the wounds that we’re trying to repair.”
“Taking the life of a police officer not only shows disrespect for human life, it shows disrespect for society. As such, there is no place for them in our society at all.”
The sharp increase in the release of police killers was largely due to changes in 2017 to the rules governing how the 17-member parole board evaluates prisoner releases. Lobbying by prison reformers and legal groups is also a contributing factor, one law enforcement official said.
The committee focuses on the inmate’s age and prison history, rather than the crime committed, the person said.
Board members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate, which tends to lean left.
