Lyalls press Silver on crime bill

The parents of missing college student Suzanne Lyall stepped up the political pressure on lawmakers Wednesday, urging Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to let a bill named after their daughter come to a vote.

Silver's office had no comment, but Assemblyman John J. McEneny, D-Albany, said the fate of "Suzanne's Law,'' which seeks to increase penalties for serious crimes around schools, is still very much up for debate.

In a sternly worded letter, Doug and Mary Lyall reminded Silver that his office said in the fall that the issue would be dealt with in December, and with the Assembly expected back this week, they urged him to get the legislation to the floor.

"We are hopeful that you will help us to avoid further disappointment and frustration,'' they wrote. "If not, we would like a full explanation why a bill that has received unanimous and bipartisan support in the Senate is being held up in the Assembly."

With the Lyalls trying to put on the heat as legislators head into an election year, the bill threatens to become another "Jenna's Law,'' a crime measure named after Jenna Grieshaber, a 22-year-old slain in her Albany apartment in 1997. The bill, which virtually abolished parole for violent felons, stalled in 1998, another election year, until the Grieshabers and Republicans applied so much public pressure that embarrassed Democrats convinced Silver to allow a vote in a special midsummer session.

Silver spokesman Charles Carrier said the speaker had not yet seen the letter and could not comment on it.

It was also uncertain as of late Wednesday afternoon, Carrier noted, whether there would be an Assembly session.

The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, would create zones of 1,000 feet around public and private schools, from day care sites to universities, and stiffen penalties for assault, rape, and kidnapping committed within those boundaries. A felony conviction would be raised one level than if the crime had been committed outside the zone, bringing a longer sentence.

The legislation has undergone three revisions to address certain concerns, including worries that it would turn quarreling roommates into felons, said Howard Becker, Tedisco's chief of staff. Tedisco also offered to let McEneny, a Democrat whose district includes the state University at Albany where Lyall attended, to take the lead on the bill. McEneny declined.

McEneny said no one disagrees with the idea of better campus safety, but questions remain over whether this is the best way to promote it. Some wonder how it would work on urban campuses that mix with neighborhoods, such as Russell Sage in Troy. He said the idea of making campus crime more serious is still being debated.

"Society would be making a statement that it is more serious to be mugged on a football field than in a church or senior citizen center,'' he said. "I'm not sure everyone's ready to make that statement."

Lyall, a 19-year-old UAlbany sophomore at the time, disappeared March 2, 1998, after leaving her job at Babbage's Software in Crossgates Mall. A student reported seeing her get off a bus at the university's uptown campus soon afterward, but she vanished without a clue after that.