{"id":33851,"date":"2023-06-03T08:08:30","date_gmt":"2023-06-03T13:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=33851"},"modified":"2023-06-03T08:08:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T13:08:30","slug":"nyc-postal-employee-david-berkowitz-known-as-son-of-sam-his-life-in-prison-and-chances-for-parole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2023\/06\/03\/nyc-postal-employee-david-berkowitz-known-as-son-of-sam-his-life-in-prison-and-chances-for-parole\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Postal Employee David Berkowitz, Known as ‘Son of Sam’ – His Life in Prison and Chances for Parole"},"content":{"rendered":"

From A&E – Sara Kettler<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n2003 mugshot of David Berkowitz, also known as the “Son of Sam”
\nserial killer. Photo: Bureau of Prisons\/Getty Images<\/h6>\n

From July 1976 to July 1977, a series of shootings in New York City left six people dead and seven wounded. As police conducted a manhunt across the terrorized city, the serial killer began leaving them\u00a0taunting notes<\/a>\u00a0at his crime scenes. In one, he called himself the \u201cSon of Sam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Law enforcement linked postal employee David Berkowitz, who lived in Yonkers, New York, to the murders in August 1977, thanks to a parking ticket that placed him in the area of his final shooting on July 31, 1977. After his arrest,\u00a0he told police<\/a>\u00a0that demons had directed his killing spree via a neighbor\u2019s barking Labrador.<\/p>\n

Instead of going on trial, Berkowitz pleaded guilty to six counts of second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted second-degree murder. In June 1978, he received six 25-years-to-life sentences.<\/p>\n

In 2002, after serving 25 years, Berkowitz became eligible for parole. His parole hearings have taken place every two years, with the next one scheduled for May 2024.<\/p>\n

Where Berkowitz Has Been Incarcerated<\/h2>\n

After his arrest, court-appointed psychiatric\u00a0experts found Berkowitz was suffering from paranoia and delusions<\/a>, but even so, they deemed him competent to stand trial. A courtroom outburst\u2014during which he yelled,\u00a0\u201cI\u2019d kill them all again\u201d\u2014delayed his sentencing.<\/a><\/p>\n

When Berkowitz\u2019s sentence began, a judge placed him in the\u00a0custody of New York\u2019s Department of Mental Hygiene.<\/a>\u00a0However, the serial killer was moved to state prison within a few months.<\/p>\n

In 1979, a fellow inmate at Attica Correctional Facility cut Berkowitz\u2019s throat, nearly killing him. He required more than 50 stitches.<\/p>\n

Throughout his incarceration, the New York State Department of Correctional Services has moved Berkowitz to different prisons, a common practice to address security concerns for\u00a0long-term inmates.<\/a>\u00a0Berkowitz spent years at Sullivan Correctional Facility in upstate New York. There,\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0reported, he worked as an\u00a0aide for impaired prisoners.<\/a><\/p>\n

Berkowitz is currently incarcerated at Shawangunk Correctional Facility, located in New York\u2019s Hudson Valley.<\/p>\n

Read more at A&E<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From A&E – Sara Kettler 2003 mugshot of David Berkowitz, also known as the “Son of Sam” serial killer. Photo: Bureau of Prisons\/Getty Images From July 1976 to July 1977, a series of shootings in New York City left six people dead and seven wounded. As police conducted a manhunt across the terrorized city, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33853,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33851\/revisions\/33853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}