1
2 NYS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
3 AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION
4 BOARD OF PAROLE
5 ********************************************************
6 Parole Board Interview
7 In the Matter
8 -of-
9 JARED BOZYDAJ
10 DIN #02A1965
NYSID #
11
********************************************************
12
TYPE OF INTERVIEW: Initial
13
14 HELD AT: Fishkill Correctional Facility
Video-conferenced to
15 20 Manchester Road
Poughkeesie, New York
16
17 DATE: February 17, 2021
DECISION DATE: February 17, 2021
18
19 BEFORE: COMMISSIONER O. CRUSE
COMMISSIONER C. LEE
20
21 AT FACILITY: ASORC Black
PA Scott
22
23
24 VERBATIM REPORTER: Lori Ciofalo, Court Reporter
25
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
2
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 COMM. CRUSE: Good morning.
2 THE INMATE: Good morning.
3 COMM. CRUSE: Your name, please?
4 THE INMATE: Jared Bozydaj, 02A1965.
5 COMM. CRUSE: Bozydaj, I had it right. I
6 was trying to pronounce your name. My name is
7 Commissioner Cruse.
8 THE INMATE: Good morning, Commissioner
9 Cruse.
10 COMM. CRUSE: And with me is Commissioner
11 Lee.
12 THE INMATE: Good morning, Commissioner
13 Lee.
14 COMM. LEE: Good morning, sir.
15 INTERVIEW BY COMMISSIONER CRUSE:
16 Q. We are here to conduct your initial interview
17 for parole consideration. Are you aware of that?
18 A. I am, sir.
19 Q. Are you prepared to proceed?
20 A. I am.
21 Q. Very good. We are talking to you from the
22 telephone, which is unusual, so if there are things
23 that I say, that you can't hear me, raise your hand,
24 and I will repeat it. Okay, sir?
25 A. Okay.
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
3
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 Q. The instant offense is as follows: Attempted
2 Murder, First, two counts, A1; Criminal Use of
3 Firearms, First, B; Assault, Second, D; Criminal
4 Possession of a Weapon, Third, Sub 4-8 VFO D;
5 Reckless Endangerment, First, five counts, D;
6 Unlawful Wearing of a Body Vest, E; Criminal
7 Mischief, Second, D. You pled to everything.
8 A. I did, sir.
9 Q. The top charge is Attempted Murder. The
10 sentence is twenty to life.
11 The instant offense, in brief, is as follows:
12 Two police departments responded, that being the New
13 Paltz Police and the Ulster County Sheriff's
14 Department, they responded to shots fired in the
15 parking lot of in
16
17 Over the course of forty-five minutes you
18 intermittently fired approximately sixty rounds,
19 from an assault-type rifle, at cars, buildings,
20 police vehicles and police officers. The record
21 notes that there were five separate shootings, which
22 occurred all together, a total of five.
23 You wore a bulletproof vest. You did strike a
24 deputy in the arm, during the course of the
25 shootings, and you fired at occupied police vehicles.
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
4
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 Mr. Bozydaj, what led you to behave like this?
2 A. Well, Commissioner, I think I have to bring you
3 back a few years, before this incident, to really
4 explain it.
5 This incident came at a time in my life where I
6 was at the end of a long, emotional, physical
7 breakdown.
8 From the time I was young, I always felt
9 unloved, unknowable. I grew up in a very
10 dysfunctional household. My father was a Vietnam
11 veteran, who suffered from PTSD, and because of that
12 I often felt feelings of being unloved and
13 unknowableness in our household. These feelings got
14 worse as I got older, and they really got even worse
15 after my parents divorced.
16 The end of my family, even though it was
17 dysfunctional, left me motherless in the world. My
18 only examples of dealing with pain, at the time, were
19 alcohol and drug use; both my parents were active
20 alcohol abusers and drug users.
21 I began in my late teens and early twenties, to
22 actively use drugs and alcohol more and more
23 seriously.
24
25 I was also engaging in self-radicalizing
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
5
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 behavior at the time. I was angry at my life, I was
2 angry with myself, and I started blaming the
3 government, I started blaming society, I started
4 blaming authority.
5 At the time, I was going to gun shows and this
6 is where I bought my weapons. The gun shows, at the
7 time, were really hotbeds of antigovernment
8 sentiments. You could buy books, pamphlets, all
9 kinds of stuff that had antigovernment and antipolice
10 views.
11 I was basically self-radicalizing at the time,
12 trying to find the reason why my anger was so
13 prevalent, and instead of looking inside of myself,
14 instead of looking at the things that I was doing, I
15 started to put it out on the world, I started putting
16 it out on authority figures and, basically, believing
17 that there was some sort of plot against people, by
18 the government, and by the authorities.
19 And even though I was feeling these ways, I was
20 still trying to hold it all together. I was working.
21 I was trying to have an intimate relationship, at
22 this time, with a woman, and that relationship did
23 not work out. I felt incredible feelings of
24 disconnect and incredible feelings of pain around
25 that.
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
6
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 The night of the incident I was out drinking,
2 and I saw this woman, and I wanted to talk to her and
3 apologize. I felt that I had destroyed any chance of
4 us having a relationship. She would not talk to me.
5 I felt completely useless. I felt that my life was
6 over, and that I would never have a normal life, and
7 that I was bad.
8 Once again, instead of looking at the world and
9 saying what can I do to proactively make my life
10 better, instead I started blaming everything around
11 me, I started blaming the people around me, I started
12 blaming the police, I started blaming the government.
13 I walked home, and I felt this incredible
14 feeling of indifference and disconnect from
15 everything that was normal in life. I went home, to
16 my house, and I got my rifle, and I got on my body
17 armor.
18 And I had fantasies, before this, of going out
19 in ablaze of glory, attacking the police
20 in some sort of apocalyptic battle with the
21 police and authority.
22 Q. Hold on a second. You had imagined yourself
23 doing that?
24 A. I had fantasies of that before, during my very
25 down moments, of this apocalyptic battle with the
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
7
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 police, that would show the world all that was wrong
2 with it, and why it would cause me so much pain.
3 You know, that's really what it was. I was
4 feeling so much pain, at that moment, that I wanted
5 to share that pain with the whole world. It was so
6 selfish and so narcicisstic, but that was the person
7 I was at that time.
8 I was a selfish, narcicisstic, depraved and
9 indifferent person, that could not see that, really,
10 what I needed to do was to be proactive with myself,
11 instead of blaming so many other people and instead
12 of blaming everything around me. I just wanted to
13 share my pain.
14 Q. I heard you speak a lot about your family,
15 initially, and your assertions of abuse or some
16 depravation; and you hear that often in problem
17 households.
18 You just said that you felt unloved and that
19 the household was dysfunctional, so could you be more
20 specific about the quality of the dysfunction?
21 A. I think it was mostly my father's coldness,
22 Commissioner. My father could be very cold. He was
23 a Vietnam veteran and he had seen a lot of death.
24 I started to emulate that coldness in a lot of
25 ways, because I thought that was the way to be a man,
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
8
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 that was the way to deal with pain, that was the way
2 to deal with things.
3 When my parents got divorced, my father went
4 into a degenerate episode and he slowly started
5 falling apart. He was arrested, numerous times, for
6 drunk driving. We lost our house to the bank, it was
7 repossessed.
8 My mother, I was very upset with, at this time,
9 because she had cheated on my father and left him. I
10 was estranged from my brother, because he was living
11 with my mother, and I was living with my father. I
12 really stopped trusting my family at that time.
13 Like I said, we were dysfunctional, there was
14 always fighting in the household, there was always
15 arguments, but once we broke up, I felt I had nowhere
16 to go, and I felt I had no one I could trust with my
17 feelings
18 So, really, at the time when the family
19 broke up, I just stopped trusting.
20 Q. How old were you?
21 A. I was thirteen, when the family broke up.
22 Q. And how old were you, when you committed this
23 offense?
24 A. I was twenty-five.
25 Q. Do you have any kids?
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
11
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 Q. I'm just really floored that in all of those
2 years, you didn't access anyone, you didn't talk to
3 anyone.
4 A. I didn't, Commissioner.
5 Q. How far did you go in school?
6 A. I finished high school, but that was it.
7 Q. You went through high school?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. And none of this behavior, these feelings,
10 revealed themselves?
11 A. During high school, Commissioner, when I had
12 these violent feelings, and all these feelings of
13 anger, I channeled them into football. Football was
14 my channel for a lot of my angry feelings.
15 I was captain of the team. I was one of the
16 better players on the team. I really believe that
17 after high school, without that outlet, I think that
18 really contributed to me not having anyplace to put
19 my anger, constructively, anymore.
20 COMM. CRUSE: Commissioner Lee, any
21 questions?
22 COMM. LEE: I have listened carefully and
23 I have no questions.
24 CONTINUED BY COMMISSIONER CRUSE:
25 Q. I would like to discuss your Case Plan, but
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
12
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 before I do that, let me ask you:
3 A.
5 Q. When was the last time you spoke with her?
6 A. Just today.
7 Q. You told her that you were going to be in front
8 of the Board, and she said you could stay there with
9 her?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Who lives there?
12 A. Just my mother.
13 Q. No guns, right?
14 A. No, sir, no guns ever again.
15 Q. I see your Case Plan. I'm looking at your
16 employment options. You say there is a reasonable
17 assurance letter for employment at the
18 is that right?
19 A. That is correct, Commissioner.
20 Q. I haven't found that letter, yet. I do see a
21 letter from , who is a formerly
22 incarcerated person. Letters from I see
23 numerous certificates. writes a number of
24 times, the same letter re-dated.
25 A. I'm sorry, Commissioner, I didn't hear that.
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
13
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 Q. writes the same letter, re-dated, to the
2 file.
3 A. He's an old friend of mine from high school.
4 He told me, years ago, that he was writing letters to
5 the Parole Board.
6 Q. Yes. He was formerly incarcerated.
7 A. Yes, I believe so, I think in Florida.
8 Q. I'll take your word for it. I see a letter
9 from who seems to be a friend of your
10 mother's.
11 A. Yes, that's correct, Commissioner.
12 Q. Who is
13 A. That's a good friend of my family, that's a
14 good friend of my mother's and me.
15 Q. Did you ever talk to your mother, about the way
16 you were feeling?
17 A. Say it again.
18 Q. Did you ever speak to your mother, about the
19 way you were feeling?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. What was her response?
22 A. To the crime?
23 Q. Yes.
24 A. When it first happened, she was in disbelief
25 and distress.
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
14
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
2 Over the years, we had to reconcile things from
3 our past. We've done a lot of work, Commissioner,
4 over the years, reconciling the past, reconciling my
5 anger towards her, reconciling our love towards each
6 other. She has been with me, this entire
7 incarceration.
8 My father was with me, until he passed away in
9 2008, and my grandmother in 2014, and my grandfather
10 in 2007. They were really my core group of
11 supporters throughout my entire incarceration.
12 Despite the dysfunction in the past, we were
13 able to work on a lot of that and to speak honestly.
14 Like I told you, Commissioner, back then I couldn't
15 ask, I couldn't speak, but I'm not that man, now.
16 Q.
17
18 A.
19 Q. So that's all she said?
20 A. Like I said, we had to continually work at it,
21 until we were able to see some of the reasons for
22 what happened.
23 Q. And the reasons, as you told me, was the
24 distress and feelings of anger that developed, over
25 time, for you family?
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
15
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 A. Correct,
3 Q.
6 A.
10 If you look into my transformation, my personal
11 statement, I talked about that in my parole
12 portfolio.
13 Q.
14
15 A.
16
17 Q.
18 A.
19
20
21 Q.
22 A.
23 Q.
24 A.
25 Q.
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
16
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 A.
2 Q. Were you high on the day of the instant
3 offense?
4 A. I was drinking.
5 Q. Now, your Case Plan, your goals include to
6 continue to be involved in approved offender
7 organizations, improve prosocial relationships. I
8 think I will go through the tasks on that goal.
9 The tasks are to seek positive influences,
10 foster positive relationships with other Bard
11 participants, participate in the Bard teleconference
12 and independence study. Those tasks seem to foster
13 your socialization with others, as opposed to
14 isolation.
15 Another goal is to obtain Bachelor's Degree,
16 increase educational achievement. How far have you
17 gone?
18 A. I'm currently working on my Bachelor's Degree.
19 I have my Associate's Degree.
20 Q. Increase employment skills. You're employed
21 with the industries program.
22 A. No longer, I'm part of the Bard program.
23 Q.
24 A.
25
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
17
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 Q. I'm looking at your COMPAS Risk Assessment.
2 Are you familiar with the COMPAS?
3 A. Yes, I am.
4 Q. 1 is low risk. 10 is high risk. We use it as
5 as tool to get an idea of how individuals may behave
6 in different categories.
7 Your highest measure on this tool is re-entry
8 substance abuse, highly probable, it's a 7.
9 A. I see that.
10 Q. All the other scores are either low or
11 unlikely. Do you think you are going to use drugs,
12 again?
13 A. I do not, Commissioner. I've done everything,
14 in my twenty years of incarceration, to make sure
15 that never happens again.
16
17 I have never had a
18 dirty urine ticket, during my entire incarceration.
19 Section 23 of my COMPAS report does say I have
20 a failed drug test, but that's from my previous DWAI
21 arrest, which was taken into consideration.
22 To be honest with you, Commissioner, I am
23 longer, now, clean of drugs, than being an active
24 drug user. I used drugs from the time I was fourteen
25 to twenty-five, and I have not used drugs since then.
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
19
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 Q. I have your Sentencing Minutes. You sat before
2 the Honorable Michael J. Bruhn. I have considered
3 the minutes.
4 Is there anything in them, that you remember,
5 that you would like to share with us?
6 A. I remember giving my apology in my Sentencing
7 Minutes, Commissioner. I was glad I was able to do
8 that. I was able to apologize to ,
9 personally, there in the courtroom. He was there,
10 along with many other officers.
11 I will always remember that as the best that
12 could come of that day, that I was able to apologize
13 to everyone that I hurt. I was able to apologize
14 directly to
15 I'm hoping one day to maybe apologize to him,
16 again, and all of my other victims I haven't seen,
17 all the people that were affected by the ripple
18 effects of my terrorist act.
19 Q. Your attorney does reference your apology. He
20 says he is truly sorry for those events, but in
21 emphasizing, as rightfully does, the
22 events and the seriousness of the events of June
23 21st, he says, I would like the Court to consider the
24 fact that this is a small, although entirely tragic
25 and important situation in his life, it's not the sum
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
20
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 total of the man. So it sounds as though he
2 apologized, but he also justifies your behavior.
3 A. You're talking about my attorney?
4 Q. Yes.
5 A. Well, there is no justification, Commissioner.
6 I am totally responsible for those acts. I committed
7 those acts. I made the choice to commit those acts.
8 There are reasons that led to it, but it doesn't
9 mitigate the fact that I am responsible and I take
10 responsibility for those acts.
11 I'm glad that I've come to a point in my life,
12 where I can apologize completely and keep on
13 apologizing and try to amend for the damage I've done
14 for those acts, but there is no way I can ever, ever,
15 apologize enough.
16 Judge Bruhn said twenty years ago, I can
17 apologize for the rest of my life, but I can never
18 undo the harm that I did that day, and I agree with
19 Judge Bruhn, I can never undo the harm. I can only
20 try to keep on amending some of that harm.
21 One of the ways I hope to do that is to
22 hopefully -- well, I will work with a group called
23 Life After Hate. I have already contacted them and
24 regardless of what happens here today, whether I am
25 still in prison or I am released, I plan on working
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
21
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 with them, to work against extremism, and to continue
2 to use my story.
3 Especially after watching what happened in our
4 country over the last year, during the summer, and
5 then the attack on January 6th.
6 The extremist narratives that were out there,
7 when I was out there twenty years ago, were a fringe,
8 and now it appears that it has become more
9 mainstream, and I want to be able to work against
10 that in any way I can, Commissioner. I believe
11 that's part of the way I could make amends for all
12 the people I hurt and try to amend for the damage
13 that I've done.
14 Q. I'm reviewing your apology that you spoke
15 during the Sentencing Minutes, and it was lengthy;
16 you cited your mother's illness, and you spoke
17 directly to a particular officer, , who
18 is recognized for his bravery, for being under fire
19 at your hand.
20 You apologized to the people of . You
21 went on to mention the entities that are helpful to
22 you; . Your apology is noted,
23 sir.
24 It's customary that we write judges, DAs and
25 defense attorneys, and we ask them for their opinion
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
22
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 regarding the possibility of your release. None have
2 responded, so we are going ahead without the benefit
3 of their input.
4 I am going to give you the last word, sir. Is
5 there anything further you would like to say to us?
6 A. There is, Commissioner Cruse. I would like to
7 say, once again, I want to apologize to all my
8 victims, especially
10 the citizens of
11 There were so
12 many victims, Commissioner, it's hard to name. All
13 the people in the town that night. All the people
14 that heard the shots fired. All the people that were
15 held in terror by my actions.
16 I can apologize, again and again, as many times
17 as I can, to try to make up for some of that, but
18 it's not going to ever be enough.
19 I am trying to apologize, as I move forward.
20 I've done what I can to amend myself, to make sure
21 that I'm never that man, again, that I can never,
22 ever, commit those sorts of crimes, again.
23 I have to be honest with you, Commissioner, I
24 know how difficult it is for you. I mean if any
25 crime undermines respect for the law, my crime does.
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
23
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 I understand that, fully. I know that, fully. But I
2 can tell you this, that man is gone, that man doesn't
3 even exist anymore, and he will never exist again.
4 The man before you now has accomplished a lot
5 of things, educationally, personally, physically and
6 mentally. I believe I could be a credible messenger,
7 to work against other people that may be thinking
8 these same thoughts out there.
9 Regardless of what happens here today, I'm
10 going to do that, whether I'm still here for another
11 two years, I'm going to do that when I'm home. I am
12 going to continue to work against extremism, I'm
13 going to speak out against it with my words and with
14 my actions.
15 I want to thank you for the time you've given
16 me, today. I want to thank you for having to listen
17 to this crazy case. Thank you, I hope you have a
18 good day.
19 COMM. CRUSE: I thank you, sir. We are
20 going to deliberate, write our decision, and send it
21 to your attention, so give us a couple of days.
22 Thank you.
23 (Interview concluded.)
24
25
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
24
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
2 (After due deliberation by the Parole Board Panel,
3 the following Decision was rendered:)
5 DECISION
7 Jared Bozydaj, parole denied. Hold 24 months.
8 Next appearance, 2/2023.
9 After a review of the record, interview and
10 deliberation, the Panel has determined that your release
11 would be incompatible with the welfare and safety of
12 society and would so deprecate the serious nature of the
13 crime as to undermine respect for the law. Parole is
14 denied.
15 The Instant Offense marks your first New York State
16 incarceration, resulting from your conviction for
17 Attempted Murder, First, two counts, A1; Criminal Use of
18 Firearms B, Assault Second D; Criminal Possession of a
19 Weapon, Third, Sub 4-8 VFO; Reckless Endangerment,
20 First, five counts, D; Unlawful Wearing Body Vest, E;
21 and Criminal Mischief, Second, D; where two law
22 enforcement departments, the Ulster County Sheriff's
23 Department and the New Paltz Police Department,
24 responded to a Japanese restaurant in the
25 The response was prompted by a report of shots
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
25
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 fired.
2 Over the course of forty-five minutes, you wore a
3 bulletproof vest and executed, per the record, five
4 separate shootings, using a high-powered assault-type
5 rifle, to shoot at police cars, buildings and police
6 officers, a deputy was struck and the Town was shut down
7 during the ordeal.
8 The Panel has considered all the required factors
9 in the file; Sentencing Minutes, institutional
10 adjustment, release plan, satisfactory Case Plan, your
11 discipline and COMPAS Risk Assessment.
12 The Panel has noted your academic achievement, your
13 statements of remorse,
14
15 Overall, you have presented positive institutional
16 adjustment and efficient use of time. However, your
17 discretionary release shall not be granted merely for
18 good conduct and efficient performance of duties while
19 confined. To grant your release would so deprecate the
20 serious nature of the crime as to undermine respect for
21 the law.
22 The Panel has weighed and considered the results of
23 your COMPAS Risk Assessment and the low scores indicated
24 therein. We do not depart from your COMPAS scores,
25 however, the impact of your Instant Offense/behavior
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
26
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
1 extremely disturbs the Panel, where you presented a
2 clear and evident danger to society, disregarding life,
3 the law and law enforcement.
4 In addition your history of alcohol and drugs,
5 coupled with your highly probably risk of substance
6 abuse COMPAS score, and your admission of having drank
7 alcohol before the Instant Offense, leads the Panel to
8 question your preparedness for release.
9 You remain a symbol of violence and terror in the
10 community. Your release, at this time, would
11 so deprecate the serious nature of the crime as to
12 undermine respect for the law. Parole is denied.
13 (All Commissioners concur.)
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
27
Jared Bozydaj DIN #02A1965 NYSID #
2 CERTIFICATION
4 I, Lori Ciofalo, Court Reporter and Notary Public
5 in and for the State of New York, do hereby certify that
6 I attended the foregoing proceedings, took stenographic
7 notes of the same, and that the foregoing, consisting of
8 27 pages, is a true and correct copy of same and the
9 whole thereof.
10
11 Lori Ciofalo
12 Lori Ciofalo, Court Reporter
13 Dated: February 17, 2021
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
eScribers, LLC (800) 257-0885
