Bills to ban life without parole introduced into 2024 Legislature

By Michael Bielawski

A judge’s 1994 sentencing report on a grisly strangling murder in Vermont calls into question the notion – held by some current Vermont lawmakers – about banning the sentence of life in prison without parole.

The documents concern a brutal domestic murder which then-ruling judge Alden Bryan considered “done by an intelligent person but a thoroughly evil person.”

Last year the legislature worked on two bills concerning penalties for serious crimes, they were S. 155 and S. 41. The former was “to eliminating life without parole and implementing second look sentencing” and the latter was to eliminate life without parole. Neither became law.

Both were supported by Sens. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Chittenden-Central, Martine Gulick, D-Chittenden Central, and Anne Watson, D/P-Montpelier. All three are still in the Senate. Four additional lawmakers signed onto S. 41, including its sponsor Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D/P-Chittenden Southeast, who is also still in the Senate.

Almost released in 2023

Concerning the 1994 judge’s decision, in 2023 VDC covered a murder victim’s surviving family member who was concerned for his safety and reached out to have a story run. Gregory FitzGerald of Vermont was convicted of killing his wife Amy FitzGerald by strangulation in 1993. The VDC report detailed how Gregory FitzGerald or some time was slated to be released back into society, despite the brutal and calculated nature of his crime.

The report states, “A family member of a murder victim is expressing frustration that Vermont State Attorney Sarah George is allowing Gregory FitzGerald, the convicted murderer of his sister, to go free after he received life without parole decades ago.”

Later that year in September the decision to let him go was reversed. NBC News reported, “A convicted killer who has served 30 years behind bars for murdering his wife will stay in prison, the Vermont Parole Board decided Tuesday.” However, after the Parole Board decision, FitzGerald was furloughed by the Vermont Department of Corrections. He is now in the community, under probation and parole supervision, according to the state’s Inmate Tracker.

According to that report, at the hearing, “the killer insisted he is a changed man, saying he has taken anger management courses while in prison. Gregory Fitzgerald also told the parole board he lined up housing and a job as a handyman to help him succeed if he were released into the community.”

It continues that Alan Zeltserman, brother of Amy Fitzgerald, pleaded with the board for Gregory Fitzgerald to stay right where he is. In a letter read by a victim’s advocate, Zeltserman told the board the murderer was so manipulative and had harassed or threatened Amy’s other relatives that the convicted murderer’s original sentence of life in prison should absolutely stand.”

The NBC report continues, “The board’s denial of that request appeared to be a significant relief to the brother of Amy Fitzgerald, who attended the parole board hearing’s virtual hearing.”

VDC’s 2023 report further states, “He was sentenced to life without parole the following year for first-degree murder. He is currently slated to be freed into transitional housing once it becomes available via the Pathways to Housing program.” As noted above the parole board turned down the request, but FitzGerald is now on furlough.

Bryan: “This was not an instantaneous death”

The 1994 document by Judge Alden Bryan details his view of the convict’s character as a potential ongoing threat to society contradicting George’s notion that this person was ever safe to re-enter society.

“The was previously convicted of intimidating a witness under circumstances that constitute violence to a person. In 1979, he was convicted of intimidating a witness. The evidence supports a finding that he did so by confronting the victim with a rifle.”

The document details how the nature of the crime indicated that it was carefully premeditated by a person who otherwise showed no signs of taking such actions.

“While a murder by strangulation might not be particularly brutal, in this case, we find the method used to be an aggravating factor,” Bryan wrote. “This was not an instantaneous death. It could have taken the victim as long as ten minutes to become unconscious. During that time she was struggling, pleading, and fighting for her life.”

Bryan wrote (verbatim): “While a murder by strangulation might not be particularly brutal in this case we find the method used to be an aggravating factor. This was not an instantaneous death. It could have taken the victim as long as 10 minutes to become unconscious. During that time she was fighting struggling and pleading for her life. The numerous bruises to her body bear witness to the beating she took in the course of the homicide. 

“Although one can say that all first degree murders are severe brutal or cruel this one must be a characterized as aggravated in nature. Finally the court cannot Overlook the obvious fact that this was a most senseless killing done by an intelligent but thoroughly evil person with weeks if not months of planning for the personal gain of either money another woman or both.”

A photo of the victim among what appear to be family members can be seen on this VDC report.

Sarah George

Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George has a reputation for pushing to mitigate or ban harsher penalties for crime. VDC once highlighted that she told Harvard Law School that she “went to law school to dismantle the criminal legal system.”

She further told them, “So I was able to get rid of the prosecutors that were in that office that I felt were harming our community and replace them with public defenders that I knew I wouldn’t have to convince why we were going to do things differently.”

The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle