On November 4, 2021, Nicole (“Nikki”) Addimando formally submitted her application for clemency to the Executive Clemency Bureau of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. We are asking Governor Hochul to commute Nikki's remaining sentence and release her back to her young children, Ben and Faye. The application remains open but un-acted upon.
By granting Nikki’s petition for clemency Governor Hochul, New York’s first female governor, has an opportunity to rectify an injustice in a system that so often punishes women for surviving. Nikki killed her abuser in self-defense, after he threatened to kill her. The incident followed years of horrific physical abuse and sexual torture, which was documented by medical professionals, the police, her therapist, her midwife, and her friends. It is well past time that we stop criminalizing survival.
Nikki is a beloved mother, sister, daughter and friend. Release from her remaining term will empower Nikki to advocate for survivors of domestic violence in New York, and allow Nikki and her family to finally begin to heal together. It would also send a powerful message to advocates and survivors of domestic violence that the Governor understands the scourge of domestic violence and its impact on victims.
As Nikki said at her sentencing hearing, "I wish more than anything it ended another way. I wouldn't be in this courtroom right now, but I wouldn't be alive either. This is why women don't leave. They so often end up dead or where I'm standing — alive, but still not free.”
My electronic signature below is the attestation of my support for Nicole ("Nikki") Addimando's application for clemency.
