Important quotes and commentary about
Gary McGivern (1944-2001),
an innocent man who died in prison:
Governor Mario Cuomo signed a grant of executive clemency on New Year’s Eve, January 31, 1985, that would have released Gary McGivern from prison. The action unleashed a storm of controversy. In one month more than 200 articles appeared in the print media, not to mention radio and television.
The Gary McGivern case represents the extent to which criminal justice in the U.S. has become politicized. All of the articles below are from January 1986.
“. . . Though much has happened since the New Year’s Eve grant of clemency, it isn’t too late to publicly thank the Governor. He is to be congratulated for his courage and his willingness to place principle over expediency. The problem of our times is that the high price of moral actions on issues of substance has made simple integrity appear as if it were raw courage. The consequence is that quietly asking for what is right and just is treated as a shouted and outrageous demand.
“The McGivern case and the reaction to it, the parole board’s abdication of responsibility in the face of political pressure, the media’s lack of clarity, and the ensuing denial of Chuck Culhane’s clemency application, all bode poorly for what has become a real and crying need in New York State --reform of the clemency apparatus to make it routinely useful, widely available, less political, and more accountable.”
Jonathan E. Gradess, Executive Director, New York State Defenders Association.
The Defender. January/February 1986.
“Gary McGivern has suddenly become the most prominent convict in New York, and the fuss over him has implications nationally. The key players are Gov. Mario Cuomo, whom the Republicans appear determined to maneuver into the Democratic presidential nomination, and Vice President George Bush.
“Appearing before a Conservative Party banquet, Mr. Bush made a criticism of Mr. Cuomo that is indefensible. He said that the recommendation by Cuomo of a grant of clemency to McGivern distinguished Cuomo from Reagan. ‘Gov. Ronald Reagan kept cop killers in jail,’ Mr. Bush said.
“Now just to begin with, it has never been established that McGivern actually killed a policeman. . .”
William F. Buckley, Jr. “Bush & Cuomo & the McGivern clemency,”
New York Daily News, February 3, 1986.
“The state Republican Party does not deny the Administration early on had discussed the political value of the case. . . . The Reagan administration picked up the case as an opportunity to embarrass Governor Cuomo and diminish his growing popularity. . . . The offer of clemency rather than a pardon signified Mr. Cuomo’s recognition of the complexities of the case. The judicial system found the men guilty, yet the case against them never has been overwhelming.”
Maurice D. Hinchey, from “Playing Politics With a Prisoner,” Op-Ed. The New York Times. February 11, 1986.
Hinchey was a Democrat, representing the 101st District (which includes most of Ulster County) in the New York State Assembly.
Today he represents Ulster County in the U.S. Congress.
“. . . Bush’s low point came with his smarmy sentence: ‘I can tell you one thing about the difference between a liberal politician and a conservative one: Gov. Reagan kept cop killers in jail.’ That was a 10-thumbed attempt to squeeze political advantage from a complicated case in which Cuomo recommended clemency for a man who has spent 18 years in jail and who --but has never was found to-- have directly killed a policeman. Among those who have campaigned for clemency is William Buckley, not hitherto famous as a coddler of ‘cop killers.' Anyway, anyone can tell Bush one difference between a real conservative and a charlatan: A real conservative does not consider an office like the vice presidency a license to meddle in a state’s system of criminal justice.”
George F. Will, national conservative columnist. “Will Bush ever hit his bottom?”
The Times Herald Record, January 30, 1986.
“. . . The first trial in 1970 ended with a hung jury split eight to four for conviction. The citizens who voted to acquit us were accused in the local media of violating their civic duty by not voting to convict us. Our second trial in early 1971 was radically different. From a courtroom atmosphere with reasonable security arrangements (at the first trial), the courtroom at the second trial was nothing short of an armed camp, with dozens of police officers, machine guns, dogs, helicopters, pat and strip searches of people entering the courtroom, the whole nine yards. In that atmosphere, before a jury from which lawyers were not allowed to exclude peace officers sitting with challenges for cause, we were convicted and sentenced to death.”
Charles Culhane, Gary McGivern’s codefendant. Written from Ossining Correctional Facility.
Letter to the Editor, “Kavanagh’s statements criticized,” The Times Herald Record, January 30, 1986.
“The prisoner is an Irishman. So is the district attorney. They could easily be neighbors in Belfast as in Woodstock. In the heat he has generated since Governor Cuomo granted belated clemency, Mr. Kavanagh has taken a stance roughly equivalent in tenacity to that of Ian Paisley confronted by a prospective Anglo-Irish accord in the other Ulster.
“Equally uncompromising, McGivern has claimed innocence from the very beginning. He refused to plea bargain with the district attorney, rejecting the prosecution’s offer of a manslaughter charge --with a sentence of 8 to 25 years that would, had he accepted it, long ago have made him eligible for parole.
“Again and again the accused man requested lie detector tests during the case’s early history. He was denied. Only in 1979, when then lieutenant governor Mario Cuomo intervened on his behalf, were the tests administered. McGivern passed the tests. The state’s eyewitness refused to take any tests. He died of a gunshot wound, self inflicted, in 1984.”
Jim Reed. “McGivern Trains for Exodus,” Woodstock Times. January 16, 1986.
As family members who visited New York's prisons
for 28 years, we speak from personal experience:
Brenda McGivern Mercurio
Dana Mercurio
Lisa Mercurio
Nancy Mercurio
and many family members
now on The Other Side
We witnessed Gary McGivern's long and painful struggle,
over years, to prove his innocence.
We witnessed the three trials in Ulster,
the more than reasonable doubt, the hung jury,
the death sentence thrown out by the state's highest court,
the appeals and dissent of judges.
We witnessed Gary's repeated requests for a polygraph
tests for years and finally he took two tests,
administered by national polygraph experts,
in conjunction with the NYS Lieutenant Governor's
office in 1979, and he passed.
We witnessed how Gary McGivern became
a prisoner of state and national politics.
We witnessed how Westchester County
and the state took no responsibility for negligence
in the transport of three prisoners in 1968.
We support the establishment of an Innocence Commission
in New York State so that cases in dispute like this
are considered outside of local, state and national politics.
For more information, select this link.
As Gary McGivern's family members
we have persisted because of the loving care
and concern shown by the hundreds of people over the years
who believe that what happened is unacceptable
If you have any questions,