Jennifer Peña raced residence from center faculty on a Friday afternoon two weeks earlier than Christmas 1999, attempting to beat her 3:30 p.m. curfew at her household’s Soundview condominium in The Bronx.
She nonetheless remembers glancing on the clock.
3:14 p.m.
Inside, her adoptive mom, Antonia Peña, lay on the ground, going through the lounge sofa. Her father, Carlos Peña, was a couple of ft away.
Blood was all over the place.
The household’s new canine bounded into Jennifer’s arms.
Then she turned to the buddy who had walked residence along with her and instructed her to not come inside. The 2 ladies sprinted down the hallway and right into a stairwell.
Jennifer, who was 13 on the time, known as her brother-in-law, Serge Ruggio, sobbing so onerous he struggled to know what she was saying.
Jennifer was taken downstairs to the superintendent’s condominium. Hours later an area information broadcast confirmed what nobody had but instructed her: Her mother and father have been useless.
“You all the time watch the information tales, and also you’re like, ‘Wow, that sucks,’ however you then by no means actually assume that it’s going to be your story,” she instructed The Metropolis Reporter.
Greater than 26 years later, Jennifer Peña is being pressured to relive that afternoon.
Jose Colon, the person who murdered her mother and father, is asking Gov. Kathy Hochul for clemency that might free him from jail after practically three a long time. Colon was 17 — simply 4 years older than Jennifer — when he pulled the set off.
Colon has an unlikely supporter in his bid: The now-retired decide who sentenced him to 30 years to life in jail now believes the punishment he imposed was too harsh.
Colon’s clemency petition sits on the intersection of a number of risky and contentious debates: how society ought to punish youngsters who commit violent crimes, what position rehabilitation and regret ought to play after a long time in jail, and when mercy is suitable for somebody convicted of homicide.
“Usually, we incarcerate for 3 causes: to incapacitate somebody, to discourage crime and for retribution,” mentioned Cara Drinan, a professor at Catholic College of America’s Columbus College of Legislation who focuses on juvenile sentencing. “Relating to youth crimes, none of those rationales assist prolonged sentences.”
The Colon case is one among lots of in New York the place folks serving lengthy sentences for crimes dedicated of their youth are searching for clemency. Supporters contend a long time behind bars justify a second likelihood. In addition they cite analysis displaying the danger of a launched inmate committing a brand new crime drops sharply with age.
“It’s tough, as a result of as a Christian, I’m instructed that he ought to be forgiven, , to let it go for my very own private sake, so I do adhere to that,” Jennifer mentioned. “However so far as second possibilities go, it’s onerous as a result of he took loads. He took extra than simply two lives. He ruined the lives of an entire household.”
‘I Was Terrified’
Jennifer had been adopted by the Peñas as a toddler after first arriving of their residence as an emergency foster placement. The couple commonly opened their condominium to youngsters faraway from abusive properties, her brother-in-law Ruggio mentioned, and finally adopted Jennifer as their very own.
The killings upended the whole lot.
Jennifer stopped going to highschool for a time and finally was adopted by her sister Emmy and her husband Ruggio. She struggled with despair, mistrust and recurring nightmares. She by no means acquired any significant counseling.
The nightmares have been the worst.
“I used to be terrified that he would come discover me, as a result of I’m the one which known as the police,” she mentioned. “That’s nonetheless one thing that bothers me.”
One other fear: Colon was a member of the Latin Kings road gang, which had members in New York and Florida.
“How do I do know he’s not going to come back after me and my household?” she requested. “That might be farfetched, however that’s what my mind thinks about.”
The household finally moved to Florida. Jennifer joined the Air Drive, the place she mentioned she “felt secure,” earlier than leaving for medical causes.
“So since then I’ve simply form of been residing,” she mentioned, “all the time wanting over my shoulder, in a way, wanting over my youngsters’ shoulders too.”
‘I Don’t Have the Reply’
Jennifer has spent greater than 20 years attempting to know how one afternoon modified her life.
Jose Colon has spent practically three a long time attempting to know why he shot her mother and father.
Just lately, he sat in a sparsely furnished convention room with no air con inside Sing Sing jail in Westchester County.
His eyes welled up as a reporter instructed him about Jennifer’s ordeal.
“I’ve a daughter now and would by no means need her to see one thing like that,” he instructed The Metropolis Reporter throughout an intensive interview contained in the 200-year-old jail.
Bald and soft-spoken, Colon sounds extra like a middle-aged father than {the teenager} prosecutors described practically three a long time in the past.
Colon mentioned he and his confederate, David Rodriguez, didn’t even have bus fare that wet Friday. They slipped onto a Bx39 by way of the again door.
Colon knew the Peñas’ condominium constructing effectively. His aunt lived there and he knew the basement entrance was usually left unlocked.
Every week earlier, he had tagged together with a buddy who had purchased jewellery from Carlos and Antonia Peña, who used a folding cart to promote cheap baubles to native outlets and consumers. Antonia, who was battling most cancers, additionally babysat the couple’s grandchildren.
Rodriguez rang the Peñas’ doorbell and requested for a random, pretend particular person, Ashley.
For a second, Colon “froze,” as he and Rodriguez talked it over by the staircase after the Peñas at first didn’t open the door, he recalled.
Rodriguez tried to influence him to depart — twice.
Colon, armed with a sawed-off .22 caliber rifle, ignored his pleas and kicked by way of the door as Antonia opened it, capturing her within the abdomen. Carlos, startled, got here out of the bed room within the again along with his coat on.
Colon shot him within the neck.
Colon and Rodriguez then went to the kitchen the place the household’s cash and jewellery cart have been saved.
“We put the whole lot that was on the desk right into a bag,” Colon recalled, including that he shot Antonia a second time on their manner out.
Proper after, he bought “lightheaded,” his imaginative and prescient turned yellow and he turned nauseous.
“I knew instantly that I had fucked up,” he mentioned. “I don’t know how you can clarify the sensation.”
That night time, they went to a Candy 16 birthday celebration, the place Rodriguez gave his girlfriend one of many stolen rings and talked in regards to the homicide with associates.
Police arrested Rodriguez and Colon the subsequent day.
“Lots of people known as the precinct due to us,” Colon mentioned. “Typically I sit right here and take into consideration that. Did I simply assume it was enterprise as ordinary? That no one cares?”
“I went to the intense for no cause in any respect,” he added. “I simply don’t have the reply. I don’t need to make one thing up both.”
‘It Was Fights Each Day’
Colon by no means went to trial and admitted to police he was the only real shooter answerable for the immigrant couple’s loss of life.
His grandfather, who was his stand-in father determine, didn’t speak to him for the subsequent 5 years.
The homicide was the end result of a childhood marked by instability, untreated psychological well being struggles and repeated separation from the adults in his life.
Colon was born in The Bronx to a 15-year-old mom. His organic father left when he was two years previous. For a lot of his early childhood, Colon was raised by his grandparents whereas his mom labored lengthy hours. He mentioned he later had a tumultuous and sometimes violent relationship along with his stepfather.
Round age six, Colon started experiencing involuntary facial and hand tics and explosive outbursts. Docs recognized him with Tourette syndrome and prescribed him remedy, however the uncomfortable side effects have been tough to handle, based on medical data included along with his clemency petition. Over the subsequent a number of years, he was evaluated by a number of neurologists and psychiatrists, suspended from faculty repeatedly and finally positioned in particular schooling.
Colon mentioned the tics made him the goal of relentless bullying, leaving him depressed, ashamed and more and more offended. He clashed with classmates, academics and relations.
“Yearly, I used to be in a unique borough,” he recalled. As a uncommon Latino scholar throughout a stint at a Brooklyn elementary faculty, “It was fights every single day, fights every single day, fights every single day.”
His mom would take the practice with him to highschool when he was enrolled in Manhattan. However as quickly as she left, he’d simply take the alternative practice again to The Bronx, he recalled.
“I’d take the practice from Parkchester to the Brooklyn Bridge,” he remembered. “I’d be on the practice on a regular basis.”
When Colon was 13, his mom filed a Individual in Want of Supervision petition, and a household courtroom decide despatched him to a residential remedy faculty in Westchester County, the place he remained for greater than three years.
“I’ve by no means made it again residence,” Colon mentioned from Sing Sing as his eyes turned watery.
He considered the location as abandonment by his mom. Colon returned residence at 15, however stayed only some months earlier than his stepfather pressured him out. Following a juvenile assault conviction, he spent 9 months at Spofford Juvenile Middle, a infamous facility that closed in 2011. Mike Tyson, the well-known boxer, did time there as a youngster.
A ‘Chilling’ Confession
When Colon was launched at 16, he relied on associates’ households for a spot to sleep.
A kind of associates was David Rodriguez. Colon had moved in with Rodriguez’s household only a week earlier than the theft that ended with Carlos and Antonia Peña useless.
Colon’s clemency software argues that his troubled childhood wasn’t the one issue ignored throughout his prosecution and sentencing. After Colon pleaded responsible to 2 counts of second-degree homicide in trade for a sentence of 30 years to life, a brand new legal professional unsuccessfully sought to withdraw the plea, arguing essential mitigating proof of Colon’s psychiatric historical past and remedy had not been introduced to the courtroom.
The appliance additionally argues that State Supreme Court docket Justice William Mogulescu misinterpreted Colon’s demeanor after the killings. Mogulescu described Colon’s videotaped confession as “chilling” as a result of he appeared impassive, viewing it as proof of a scarcity of regret. Colon’s attorneys now contend his flat have an effect on mirrored psychological detachment and the still-developing mind of a 17-year-old slightly than an absence of regret.
Supporters say Colon’s jail file tells the story of a person who bears little resemblance to {the teenager} who burst into the Peña household’s condominium.
His clemency software factors to a cognitive behavioral program he created to assist prisoners confront the hurt they triggered and mentor youngsters in hopes they keep away from making the identical decisions he did.
Whereas locked up, Colon earned his GED and enrolled in faculty, incomes an affiliate’s diploma in behavioral science earlier this summer time.
His disciplinary file, nevertheless, displays a extra fraught path.
State Division of Corrections data present Colon amassed quite a few infractions throughout his first 20 years in jail, together with a number of violent incidents that resulted in solitary confinement. His final critical infraction got here in 2021, after what he described as a battle in self-defense. In keeping with his clemency software, he has remained infraction-free for the previous 5 years.
In the present day, Colon works as a clerk in Sing Sing’s schooling division, the place he mentors different incarcerated college students, oversees the jail library and helps handle educational data.
His clemency software additionally factors to repeated commendations from jail employees, together with for serving to extinguish a hearth set by one other inmate, volunteering within the jail’s hospital and serving to clear cells in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, when 45 state inmates died from the coronavirus.
Colon’s supporters say maybe the clearest proof of who he has turn into isn’t present in certificates or commendations however within the household he constructed from inside jail partitions.
He married Janette “Jeannie” Colon in 2011, after the 2 rekindled a friendship that dated again years. Greater than a decade later, they reconnected after Colon started writing to her with questions in regards to the Yoruba faith. The letters became cellphone calls, then jail visits, and finally a relationship.
Colon, who has no organic youngsters, turned a father determine to Jeannies’ younger daughter Bryanna from behind jail partitions. He despatched her drawings and birthday playing cards, carved out time for each cellphone name and helped make parenting choices, based on his spouse.
“He gained Bryanna’s coronary heart over, identical to mine,” she wrote in his clemency software. “We have been merely meant to be a household.”
His clemency software faces steep odds.
Since first taking workplace in August 2021, Gov. Hochul has granted clemency — within the type of a sentence commutation — to 19 folks. She’s presently operating for re-election.
An ‘Extreme’ Sentence?
Justice Mogulescu, now retired, remembers little in regards to the plea negotiations that unfolded in his courtroom greater than 25 years in the past.
What he does know is that this: He wouldn’t impose the identical sentence as we speak.
“I consider that the sentence of 30 years to life imposed on a 17-year-old was extreme,” Mogulescu wrote in a letter supporting Colon’s clemency software.
Mogulescu mentioned Colon’s in depth psychological well being historical past was not totally introduced to him earlier than sentencing as a result of prosecutors and protection attorneys had already negotiated a plea settlement.
“It was not my place to form of say, ‘What are you, some form of asshole?’” he instructed The Metropolis Reporter, describing his reluctance to second-guess the protection counsel’s technique.
Since Colon’s sentencing, the U.S. Supreme Court docket has repeatedly acknowledged youngsters ought to be handled otherwise from adults in legal punishment, citing analysis displaying adolescents are extra vulnerable to impulsivity, risk-taking and poor judgment.
Requested whether or not he regrets the sentence as we speak, Mogulescu didn’t hesitate.
“It hasn’t been a spotlight of my life,” he mentioned. “I feel it’s applicable for that sentence to be adjusted.”
Beneath present New York legislation, nevertheless, judges don’t have any energy to revisit a sentence as soon as it’s imposed. Solely Hochul can shorten it by way of govt clemency.
That’s one cause supporters of a proposed legislation known as the Second Look Act need judges to have the authority to rethink prolonged jail sentences after folks have served years behind bars.
“That is precisely the form of case re-evaluation laws was designed for,” mentioned Marta Nelson, director of the Sentencing Reform Initiative on the Vera Institute of Justice. Colon dedicated the crime at 17, an age when analysis reveals individuals are extra impulsive and prone to look strain, she mentioned. The query a long time later is whether or not continued incarceration stays “within the curiosity of justice.”
Nelson, who reviewed clemency circumstances in the course of the Cuomo administration, mentioned the query is whether or not “the sentence remains to be applicable for who this particular person is now.”
The case additionally underscores how little assist many victims obtain as soon as the legal case ends.
For instance, Colon wrote a letter years in the past accepting duty for the killings and expressing regret by way of the state’s Apology Letter Financial institution, which permits incarcerated folks to submit notes that victims or their households can select to obtain if they want.
However Jennifer mentioned she by no means knew Colon’s letter existed.
Beneath DOCCS coverage, victims are notified provided that they’re registered with the company’s Workplace of Sufferer Help.
She additionally mentioned nobody ever instructed her about New York’s restorative justice applications, which permit victims and offenders to voluntarily meet in a fastidiously facilitated setting if either side agree — although she isn’t certain she would ever need such a gathering.
Not everybody believes Colon deserves one other likelihood.
Serge Ruggio, Jennifer’s brother-in-law, who turned her guardian after the killings, says Colon ought to spend the remainder of his life behind bars. To him, no quantity of rehabilitation can erase what occurred that afternoon in The Bronx.
“To the day I die, I’ll battle this,” Ruggio, a former NYPD murder detective, instructed The Metropolis Reporter.
Ruggio mentioned the theft confirmed planning, not youthful impulsiveness. What occurred subsequent has stayed with him for greater than a quarter-century.
In keeping with Ruggio, after capturing Carlos and Antonia Peña, Colon and his confederate stepped over their bleeding our bodies, rifled by way of the condominium and stole the folding jewellery cart Antonia used to promote cheap trinkets in neighborhood magnificence salons and flea markets within the weeks earlier than Christmas.
Jennifer found the our bodies about 90 minutes later.
“She was hysterical,” Ruggio recalled. “I may barely perceive what she was saying.”
Ruggio rushed from Manhattan, arriving earlier than detectives assigned to the case. He mentioned years of investigating violent crime did little to organize him for seeing members of his family mendacity useless.
“What I noticed was horrendous,” he mentioned. “I used to be a murder detective. However seeing your personal household there was completely different.”
Ruggio mentioned he has no objection to clemency in applicable circumstances. He pointed to folks serving prolonged drug sentences and others whose punishments now not match as we speak’s requirements.
However, he mentioned, this case is completely different.
“This wasn’t a housebreaking that went dangerous,” he mentioned. “This was a brutal, premeditated double homicide.”
For Ruggio, the query isn’t whether or not Colon has modified — it’s whether or not that change can ever outweigh the devastation he left behind.
Ruggio recalled spending the weeks earlier than Christmas planning two funerals as an alternative of celebrating the vacations. He remembered having to inform his younger youngsters that the beloved grandparents who watched them whereas he labored would by no means be coming residence. He watched his spouse, Emmy, wrestle with grief for years, consumed by questions of what she might need executed otherwise that day.
Emmy by no means totally recovered from dropping her mother and father, Ruggio mentioned. She died years later after battling most cancers, leaving Jennifer and the remainder of the household carrying scars he says won’t ever disappear.
Ruggio mentioned he hopes Colon has discovered regret and religion throughout his a long time in jail. However he drew a pointy distinction between redemption and clemency.
“That’s between him and God,” Ruggio mentioned. “I hope he does discover regret. I hope he does discover God. However as for clemency, this isn’t a clemency case.”
Even when Hochul rejects the petition, Colon is predicted to turn into eligible for parole in 2029, when Jennifer Peña and Serge Ruggio will once more have a possibility to register opposition if he applies to the state Parole Board for supervised launch.
Michael Jacobson, a former New York Metropolis corrections commissioner and a number one legal justice scholar, mentioned he understands why victims’ households usually oppose clemency and believes their voices ought to carry important weight.
However, he mentioned, the federal government represents “quite a lot of pursuits” and finally has to resolve not solely what an individual deserves, however what goal continued punishment serves.
“In some unspecified time in the future, the state has to ask itself the query: What’s the purpose after 25 years?” Jacobson mentioned. “He’s already had an unbelievable quantity of punishment.”
