Assemblyman Brian Maher (R,C-Walden) is relieved that justice for Danny Meyer and his family was upheld by the New York State Parole Board. Juan Peinado, the killer of 12-year-old Danny Meyer in 1996, was denied parole by the board.

“I commend the parole board in seeing the facts in this case, Danny Meyer’s young life was savagely taken by Juan Peinado and that he must continue his sentence. Peinado’s predatory and ruthless actions are reason enough he should never be released from prison,” said Maher. “Danny’s family deserves the peace of knowing their child’s killer is behind bars. The community also deserves this assurance as well. For now, thanks to our grassroots support and amazing team and community effort, we have continued justice for Danny and continued peace for the Meyer family and our local community.”

“Danny’s killer will remain in prison for at least two more years and our family wants to thank everyone for writing letters to the parole board, signing Assemblyman Maher’s online petition, sending us caring words and your thoughts, prayers and love over the past few months,” said Kristen Smith, Danny’s sister.“Special thanks to Assemblyman Brian Maher and his team, Rhonda Dellolio D’Auria and Shannon Malone for all of your work to help make this the outcome we wanted.With all of your help, I truly believe we can keep Danny’s Killer in prison for the rest of his life.”

Maher worked throughout the spring and summer to urge local individuals to sign a petition and write letters asking the parole board to deny early release to Peinado. At the beginning of August, 2,322 thousands of signatures were submitted to the parole board, along with a personal letter from Assemblyman Maher.The Orange County Legislature, Town of Montgomery Board & other local law enforcement agencies and community organizations adopted resolutions that were also sent to the parole board pleading for Danny’s killer to be denied parole.

New York state law allows for Danny’s killer and other child murderers to seek parole every two years after serving only 25 years of their sentence. Peinado first became eligible for parole in 2021, but Danny’s family and many supporters successfully convinced the parole board to deny release. Danny’s family is seeking the same assurance of justice now by keeping Peinado behind bars.

Maher has introduced a bill, A.4041, to end parole for murderers of children younger than 13 years old. It would require these murderers to serve out their entire sentence – life imprisonment without parole.

“Anyone who stalks and viciously kills a child should never see the light of day,” explained Maher.“I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass legislation that would ensure child killers are never again eligible for parole.As a father of three I just could not imagine going through this as a family every two years.This should be something we can all get behind, regardless of party affiliation.”