COVER COURTROOM SHOCKER —

Judge: State should re-think early discharge of mentally ill
Intensive case manager’s killer draws max jail time

By DENYCE DUNCAN LACY
A judge in Buffalo sentenced Diane Wylie to 25 years to life in prison last month for the brutal murder of PEF member Judi Scanlon, meting out the stiffest possible sentence, as the union requested.
Wylie, a diagnosed schizophrenic who was one of Scanlon’s psychiatric-outpatient clients, killed Scanlon with a hammer and a butcher knife, when Scanlon was making a home visit in November ’98.
Following Wylie’s conviction for the murder, PEF President Roger Benson wrote to Erie County Supreme Court Judge Sheila DiTullio and asked her to sentence the killer to the maximum jail term possible.

Cold-blooded killing
“On behalf of the members of PEF, I am requesting that Diane Wylie receive the maximum sentence allowed by law based on the brutality and premeditation involved in this crime that was aptly revealed in the trial,” Benson wrote.
“A clear message must be sent — the cold-blooded murder of our public servants, whether they are police, fire fighters, or mental-health workers such as Judi Scanlon, cannot be tolerated.”
At the sentencing, Judge DiTullio said the murder “should be a clear message” to state officials to re-examine their policy on early release of the mentally ill from psychiatric facilities. In handing down the maximum sentence, she also noted that Wylie expressed no remorse for the murder.

A half-dozen of Scanlon’s co-workers, including intensive case manager Bill LaMagna of Buffalo Psychiatric Center, observed the trial and sentencing.
He says he and his colleagues were pleased with the judge’s comments, but are skeptical of whether any improvements will be made.
“I thought what she said was wonderful, and I’m glad she put it on the record that something needs to be done. Now, I just hope someone in power actually does something,” LaMagna said.

Where’s Judith’s Law?
“The sentencing did not bring me any sense of closure,” he added.
“For me, it’s not over because all of the same things are still happening, all of the dangers are still there.”
And LaMagna, who’s worked for the state Office of Mental Health for 16-years, said legislation to protect mental-health-care workers is long overdue.
“Why don’t we have a “Judith’s Law” yet to protect us?” La Magna asked. “What is it going to take? The dearest price has already been paid.”

“Judith’s Law” passed in the state Assembly last year, but not in the Senate. It’s been re-introduced this year (S5524A and 7344A) and is under review in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee.

The Communicator Home Page