Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R,C,I,Ref-Pulaski), Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R,C,I,Ref-Brooklyn, Staten Island) and Assemblyman Joseph M. Giglio (R,C,I-Gowanda) penned an open letter to President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr to call their attention to a dangerous incident in which a violent MS-13 gang member wanted by federal authorities was inexplicably released from state custody.

Members of the Assembly Minority Conference are calling for an investigation into the matter as Ever Morales-Lopez, already serving a 3½ to 10½ year sentence for a conviction that included murder, attempted murder and kidnapping conspiracy, was released on parole despite additional charges alleging he was involved in the brutal murder of a rival gang member in 2016. Federal authorities instructed New York state to keep him in custody, but he was released anyway.

According to reports, Morales-Lopez’s alleged part in the 2016 murder, where a rival gang member was lured into the woods and butchered with machetes, could result in the death penalty if he is convicted. When the Federal Bureau of Investigation was made aware of the situation days later, Morales-Lopez was arrested again, thankfully.

“The system failed all New Yorkers when they released Ever Morales-Lopez, a violent member of the MS-13 gang, who was also facing federal murder charges,” said Barclay. “The fact that this criminal was even considered for early parole when he was facing a possible death sentence is shocking. This is more than a clerical error; this is yet another breakdown of the prison and parole systems that continues to put the public at risk. We are calling for an immediate independent, federal investigation.”

Mistakes like this are part of a larger trend in New York where state government has been negligent, or worse still, willfully ignorant of public safety. Recent bail “reforms” have enabled career criminals to walk free with regularity. The parole system, too, has been a disaster, repeatedly releasing cop-killers and violent offenders with reckless abandon.

“Innocent New Yorkers are made less safe every day because of the liberal policies put forth by a state government that continues to prioritize career criminals over law-abiding citizens,” said Malliotakis. “Public safety should be the number one priority for elected officials. Unfortunately in New York, under all-Majority rule, the exact opposite is true. This most recent example, coupled with policies like bail reform and ‘raise-the-age,’ has put even more people at risk, has made our streets less safe and has riddled our communities with an increase in violence. We need real criminal justice reform in New York and are requesting the federal government launch a full investigation to identify all responsible parties.”

“Our criminal justice system has been under attack and has now been broken,” said Giglio. “Federal and state officials have not been communicating properly, and dangerous people are being released from prison and creating more victims. We should be working toward solutions to make sure this doesn’t happen again. It is our responsibility to protect the people in our communities from people who would do them harm.”