An obscure provision in the law that has allowed the clock to continue running on Guy Velella’s jail sentence – even as he’s appealed his sentence from the comfort of his own home – should be scrapped, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.
Since being discharged by the Local Conditional Release Committee three months ago, Velella’s one-year sentence has continued to wind down, even though his release was later deemed invalid by a reconstituted version of the LCRC.
“You would think a common-sense law would stop the clock,” Bloomberg said. “I think it’s unfair.”
Bloomberg added that letting the clock run also puts “undue pressure on the courts.”
“You want [the courts] to take their time and make sure they consult case law, and think about it, and do what they think is appropriate,” Bloomberg said. “It’s hard to do when there’s public outcry pushing them to do something expeditiously.”
On June 21, Velella was sentenced to a year on Rikers Island on charges stemming from a bribery scheme.
But the disgraced former state senator was released on Sept. 28, just 100 days into his term.
Two months later, after the original LCRC was disbanded and replaced following a scathing report from the city’s Department of Investigation, Judge Lottie Wilkins ordered Velella and four others back to the big house.
An appeals court agreed with Judge Wilkins in a decision Monday, and ordered Velella back to the pokey on Dec. 27.