Tipsheet

NYC: What Happened After a Convicted Child Rapist and Murderer Was Released From Prison

Just yesterday, we told you about a mind-blowing plea deal in California's Bay Area, in which an already-convicted felon faces no prison time after going on a violent crime spree.  We mentioned that soft-on-crime policies and officials are empowering criminals and endangering innocent people all across the country.  In general, the bluer and more "progressive" the jurisdiction, the likelier it is that such policies and officials are running the show.  We also recently filled you in on New York City's new anti-shoplifting "crackdown" plan, which entails a quasi-no-prosecution pledge for first-time arrests, so-called 'de-escalation' training for employees at stores, and kiosks inside shops that offer would-be robbers social services.  It's cartoonish.  One wonders where New York will place anti-sexual assault kiosks to deter would-be rapists.  The details of this story, via the New York Post, are ghastly:

An ex-con on lifetime parole for the rape and murder of a 10-year-old Queens girl was allowed to remain on the streets despite getting arrested again last year — and is now charged with another sexual assault, The Post has learned. Charles Rowe, 56, was able to cash in on the state’s controversial “Less is More” act, which made it easier to keep him out of jail even after he was hit with a felony stolen car rap in December, according to law enforcement sources. The convicted killer continued to remain free despite twice blowing off court appearances in that case — during which time he allegedly went on a brutal crime spree in Queens, assaulting one woman and raping another before he was finally locked up earlier this month, records show. In both cases, he allegedly threatened to kill his victims, according to the court records...The statute, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2021 and enacted last year, allows parolees to avoid jail over a “technical violation” of their release conditions and, according to critics, also makes it tougher to put them back behind bars if they are accused of a new crime.

...Rowe had earned his lifetime parole status after he was convicted of raping and killing little Vanessa Broughton inside her bedroom on Christmas Eve in 1987. Rowe was a guest of the girl’s family at their Jamaica home when he was left alone with the youngster, then raped and repeatedly stabbed her to death — leaving her naked and blood-soaked body on her bed, where she was found by relatives at 1 a.m., according to news reports from the time. He was convicted of murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Rowe spent nearly 35 years behind bars before he was released from the upstate Sullivan County Correctional Facility on Jan. 19, 2022, and was to remain under close state parole supervision. But less than a year later, Rowe was busted on felony grand larceny and other charges for allegedly stealing a van from a U-Haul storage facility in Jamaica on Dec. 9. The Queens District Attorney’s Office said Monday that prosecutors had asked for $25,000 bail at Rowe’s arraignment on Dec. 10.

This man brutally raped and murdered a young, defenseless child.  He should never have been released from prison.  Some crimes cry out for lifelong incarceration or death.  I'd guess that most Americans would agree that someone should not be allowed to see the outside of prison walls ever again after stealing the innocence and life of a child.  But this man committed those heinous acts, secured parole decades later, and allegedly committed another felony within months.  Beyond that, he failed for show up for multiple mandatory court appearances, additional parole violations.  And yet:

The administrative law judge released Rowe without bail, pending a preliminary hearing in his parole revocation case on Jan. 6 in Brooklyn Criminal Court...Court records show that while Rowe was awaiting word on his parole, he also skipped out on criminal court appearances on the pending car-theft case on March 15 and April 12, with warrants issued for his arrest.  The warrants were dismissed when Rowe was back in court on March 22 and April 18, respectively, and he continued to remain free without bail. Meanwhile, prosecutors allege Rowe was on a vicious crime spree at the same U-Haul facility, starting with the alleged rape of a 69-year-old woman on March 13. The victim was leaving the storage facility when Rowe allegedly grabbed her from behind and warned her, “If you don’t do what I want I am going to kill you” before he raped her and fled, according to the criminal complaint against him. On April 25, he was back at the facility when a 61-year-old woman caught him rifling through her pocketbook inside her storage compartment and confronted him, according to the complaint in that case.  Rowe allegedly turned to the woman and warned her, “Let’s not turn this into a murder.” After the woman put up a fight, he allegedly told her, “You’re going to be my girlfriend tonight” — and then slashed her in the neck and chest and punched her in the face before running off, the complaint states.

He allegedly returned to the same facilitiy the very next day and robbed it, which was caught on camera. This is an evil person who proved his evil in 1987. He was relased from prison years later, and began a spree of new offenses, including violently attacking two women. He should never have had the opportunity to do so.  He should have been imprisoned all along, and he should have been immediately sent back to prison after re-offending.  And after skipping court dates.  But thanks to the "equity" and "justice" reforms enacted by New York Democrats, he was free to commit multiple new felonies. "Rowe was arrested and charged with the three new crimes on May 13," the Post reports. "He was arraigned on May 14 and hit with first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse, predatory sexual assault, first- and second-degree robbery, weapons possession, burglary, petty larceny and other charges."  Behold, progress.  Unrelatedly, but also relatedly:

National "progressives" seem to spend much of their time studiously ignoring the abject failures of their comrades and ideology in places they fully control. I'll leave you with more "pro-science" "progress" in our nation's capital, where this edict has been announced for July of 2023 -- not July of 2020, or even 2021: