A 40-year-old man who was released early from prison because of the coronavirus has been arrested and accused of killing a 21-year-old woman in Denver, Colorado, last weekend.
Cornelius Haney is accused of first-degree murder in the death of Heather Perry, whose body was found in an alleyway on Saturday. Haney was released April 15 after Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order on March 25 to allow “special-needs parole” for some inmates.
“The potential spread of COVID-19 in … prisons poses a significant threat to prisoners and staff who work in facilities and prisons, as well as the communities to which incarcerated persons will return,” Polis wrote.
Haney was close to the end of a seven-year prison stint after being found guilty of a 2016 armed robbery in Arapahoe County, Colorado.
The Colorado Department of Corrections attempted to deflect blame on Haney’s early release, stating in a press release that he was scheduled for release in August of this year regardless of the decision to let him out early.
“Mr. Haney has been eligible for parole since 2017,” read part of the statement. “His case was reviewed by the Parole Board, and he was approved for release. He was released on 4-15-2020. Mr. Haney had a mandatory release date of 8-22-2020 and would have been required to be released at that time regardless of the Parole Board decision.”
Polis, too, deflected blame when he told reporters on Friday that “nobody on that parole board thought that this person was going to do what they allegedly did.”
State officials throughout the United States have been criticized by prosecutors for commuting prison sentences for some inmates who are deemed to be at-risk for the coronavirus.
