Our community has been shaken by the horrible events that occurred on March 14th when Lori Bresnahan was brutally murdered and a 10-year old was sexually assaulted.
In response to the lack of oversight and willful disregard by the Federal probation office in Syracuse, I wrote to our Federal representatives requesting a full investigation and disciplinary probe be commenced. I am determined to see that the Syracuse office is held accountable. As I stated in my letter, "The murder of a woman and rape of a 10-year old child deserves much more of an explanation and corrective action than they have received so far."
Here are updates as to the progress that is being made in ensuring that our community is receiving the Federal and State protections that you are entitled to. I want to commend the swift response by Senator Schumer and Congressman Maffei and bring their actions to your attention.
"Schumer wants US Senate hearing to examine 'grievous errors' in David Renz murder case"
5/15/13 Post Standard, by Mark Weiner
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer today called for a Senate Judiciary committee hearing to examine the federal probation office in Syracuse, saying the public deserves answers about the lack of oversight of accused murderer David Renz.
"The unspeakable crimes committed by David Renz could have been avoided with proper oversight and diligence on the part of this probation office," Schumer said.
The Senator said he wants to find out why the Syracuse office was the only one among 490 nationwide that routinely ignored alerts of monitor-tampering shorter than five minutes.
"Maffei asks for Justice probe of David Renz monitoring" 5/15/13
Post Standard, by Mark Weiner
Representative Dan Maffei asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday to investigate the federal probation office in Syracuse and its policies that allowed murdered David Renz to disable his electronic ankle monitor 46 times.
Maffei sent similar requests Tuesday for investigations to the Administrative Office for the United States Courts and the Judicial Conference of the US, both of which have oversight of the Syracuse probation office.
Maffei said in his letter, "the Renz case illustrates the serious, systemic problems in the US Probation Office for the Northern District of New York. The policies implemented by this office put our community in Central New York at serious risk. The apparently negligent operations of this office warrant serious investigation."
"Renz case prompts effort to unseal some juvenile records" 4/30/13
Post Standard, by Teri Weaver
Legislative actions taken by NYS Senator John DeFrancisco and NYS Assemblyman Al Stirpe
Proposed legislation would allow prosecutors to request a review of Family Court juvenile records when a defendant who is the subject of such records is charged with a sex offense as an adult.
David Renz, the accused murderer of Lori Bresnahan and accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year old child had a previous juvenile sexual offense, which was sealed in Family Court and was not taken into consideration for his probation.