Christie released killer, and Point Pleasant Beach victim's family left in the dark

Frank McGowan’s son got the troubling news while at his father’s 65th birthday party on Jan. 14.

It came in the form of a text message from a cousin who found out about it on social media.

They decided not to tell McGowan right away.

“The kids didn’t want to upset me, so they told me later," McGowan said.

When they did, McGowan was forced to relive one of the most horrible nights of his life, when Point Pleasant Beach police called him on June 19, 1991 to tell him his younger brother, a 32-year-old fisherman, had been stabbed in the heart by his girlfriend.

Now, as his belated birthday party was winding down, Frank McGowan had to learn from his son that Lisa Pyatt, the woman convicted of murdering Kevin Patrick McGowan, was out of prison.

Former Gov. Chris Christie, in one of his last acts before he left office, commuted her sentence to time served, almost six years before Pyatt’s earliest possible parole date.

About 9 p.m. on Jan. 12, news media received emails from Christie’s office containing the clemency orders the outgoing governor had signed on that date, four days before he left office. Pyatt, whose clemency order was in that batch, was released from the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton the next day.

About 9 p.m. on Jan. 13, Christie called Sen. Gerald Cardinale, a Bergen County Republican who advocated for Pyatt’s release, to tell him she was out of prison.

“The governor thought enough about it to call me and let me know she was physically out, so I think he felt good about it," Cardinale said.

But no one bothered to notify the McGowan family beforehand.

“I couldn’t believe it," Frank McGowan said in a recent interview. “We didn’t know it could happen. We were told we would be contacted. We had to find out from a family member at a birthday party."

McGowan said learning of Pyatt’s release from prison was like “reliving it all over again, reliving her lies."You can hear him speak more about it in the above video.

Pyatt, who stabbed Kevin McGowan in the heart in their Point Pleasant Beach apartment three days before their planned wedding, claimed self-defense and battered woman’s syndrome at her trial in 1993. A jury rejected that defense and convicted her of first-degree murder.

State Superior Court Judge James N. Citta, now retired, sentenced Pyatt to 40 years in prison and ordered that she serve 30 years behind bars before she could be considered for release on parole. Appellate courts repeatedly affirmed her conviction.

When she was released from prison, Pyatt, now 50, had served a little more than 24 years.

Mitchell Ansell, the attorney who represented Pyatt in her clemency petition, stood by her claims of self-defense as a battered woman and cited a series of questionable attorneys who represented her in her failed appeals. He said he would reach out to Pyatt to see if she would agree to an interview, but the Asbury Press has not heard back from him.

More: Christie releases Point Pleasant Beach murderer who claimed to be battered woman

Christie, in his clemency order, gave no reason for commuting her sentence to time served. The only light shed on his decision in his commutation order was that Pyatt had made a written application to him and that the state Parole Board, at his request, “has made an investigation of the facts and circumstances surrounding said application for a commutation of sentence.’’

James DiGiulio, former chief counsel to Christie, was contacted by the Asbury Park Press and asked to comment on Christie’s behalf when informed that Frank McGowan was upset he hadn’t been given prior notification of Pyatt’s release or any reason for it.

DiGiulio provided the following written statement:

“When an application for clemency is under review by the Governor’s Office, prosecuting offices, in coordination with the State Parole Board, are given notice of the application and an opportunity to provide input. These prosecuting offices and the State Parole Board may also provide victims and their families an opportunity to comment on an application and provide other material information, as necessary.

"During Governor Christie’s term, he often received communications directly from victims and their families regarding clemency applications," the statement continued. "In this instance, we are not aware whether the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office or State Parole Board informed anyone of Ms. Pyatt’s application for commutation.

"The Governor’s Office is not provided the information necessary, nor does it have the resources, to directly contact victims or their families," the statement concluded. "Governor Christie does not comment on the reasons for his decisions related to clemency applications and, therefore, will not do so in in this instance."

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said no one in his office was notified that Pyatt was going to be released. He said he heard about her release on the radio, and later fielded phone calls from the victim’s family.

“I was shocked and somewhat dismayed that I wasn’t notified ahead of time," Coronato said. “I was also disappointed we weren’t given an opportunity to tell the family. … I don’t know if there’s any regulation, and rule, any protocol, but common decency would indicate that a call should have been made."

DiGiulio deflected the blame from Christie, saying, “If necessary, proper notification is handled by the State Parole Board, not the Governor’s Office."

Lawrence Gregorio, director of the Parole Board’s division of release, simply said, “All executive clemency matters are the sole responsibility of the governor’s office, so we cannot comment."

The first time Frank McGowan received official notification of Pyatt’s release was in a brief letter from the state Parole Board that was dated Jan. 22 and postmarked Jan. 26, which was 13 days after Pyatt got out of prison. He said he thought he would be notified of a parole hearing when Pyatt was approaching parole eligibility, and he would then be afforded the opportunity to testify at the hearing.

"We thought that 30 years mandatory was 30 years," McGowan said. “We were told there would be a hearing at the Parole Board.

“She was out before anyone knew about it," he said. “We want some answers. How did this happen, that nobody knew about this?"

More: Christie commutes sentence of convicted murderer

Richard Pompelio, founder and director of the New Jersey Crime Victims’ Law Center, said not only did Christie appear not to follow his own protocol in this case, it also appears there was a violation of the McGowan family’s rights, as spelled out in a state law known as the Crime Victim’ Bill of Rights. A 2012 amendment to the Bill of Rights states that crime victims, which include survivors, have the right “to be notified of any release or escape" of a defendant.



“This was a failure," Pompelio said. “There should be prior notice. If someone is going to be released from confinement, then before they’re released, the victims ought to be notified."

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Pompelio, who first got involved in victims’ rights after his 17-year-old son, Tony, was murdered in 1989, explained the impact of failing to receive that notice.

“Especially in crimes of violence, one of the most frightening things that continue through the life of survivors or victims is that this person can get out and cause harm again," he said.

“The idea of notification means you’re not respected enough to be part of the process," Pompelio said. “In a homicide case, it is as important as can be for the victims to be notified. We need to make the process work in the most compassionate way possible."

Frank McGowan said Pyatt’s release, to him, meant that his brother’s murderer was again making herself out to be the victim.

“It’s his name being dragged through the mud again by people who don’t know the case, don’t know the facts," Frank McGowan said of his slain brother. “The jury – they saw her as a cold-blooded killer. We thought this was behind us.



“I can’t sleep," he said. “All I do is think about this. We don’t feel we should have to go through this again, reliving this murder all over again."

Cardinale said he had been advocating for Pyatt’s clemency for several years, after her case was brought to his attention by a battered women’s group, Strengthening Our Sisters. He said he read the trial transcript and some legal analyses provided by lawyers advocating for the battered women’s group. Cardinale, a dentist, asserted that Pyatt was defending herself and her young son when she stabbed Kevin McGowan, and said she never should have been prosecuted.

“Once I read the papers, I believed that the victim was a monster," Cardinale said. “Whenever he got drunk he would beat up on whomever he was living with."

Cardinale said he couldn’t remember who had said that and he didn’t know why Pyatt didn’t testify at her trial.

And, he said it never occurred to him to speak to a fellow senator, James Holzapfel, an Ocean County Republican who was the Ocean County prosecutor when Pyatt went to trial, or William P. Cunningham, the former assistant prosecutor who tried the case.

“If I had, they would have a different take," Cardinale said.

Cardinale also said he never reached out to the McGowan family.

“If I was to speak with his family, I would not give any weight to what they would say," Cardinale said. “What are you going to accomplish by talking to them?"

Frank McGowan said Pyatt’s story about the stabbing changed a number of times, and she didn't blame herself for Kevin's death, but medical personnel for not being able to save his life after she stabbed him.

“My brother was so drunk, he could barely make it up the stairs, and she attacked him," McGowan asserted. “My brother wasn’t a violent person. He had broken up with his girlfriend of seven years, and she (the ex-girlfriend) testified he never touched her."

Cunningham said Pyatt stabbed Kevin McGowan in the heart when he came home to break the news to her that he wasn’t going to marry her.

He had only taken up with Pyatt a few months before his death, after his breakup with his longtime girlfriend, Frank McGowan said.

McGowan said his brother was a happy person who disliked being alone.

“He was happy-go-lucky, lit up a room," Frank McGowan said. “He was always smiling. … He was the kind of guy who, if there was a confrontation, he’d walk across the street to get away from it."

Pompelio said he plans to draft an amendment to the Crime Victims’ Rights Bill that spells out with certainty that the requirement to notify victims and survivors of a defendant’s release applies in clemency cases.

“We want to correct the Bill of Rights and make sure this doesn’t happen again," Pompelio said.

“We’d like to bring it to the attention of the new governor, to be aware of this," Frank McGowan said. “You want to stop it from happening again to other families."

Kathleen Hopkins: 732-643-4202; Khopkins@app.com