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The man who killed a Newark police detective inside the Essex County Courthouse 29 years ago is medically eligible to be freed under the state’s compassionate release law, but he does not deserve his freedom, a judge ruled Monday.

The law, passed and signed last year, gives the judge the ability to keep an inmate incarcerated even if he meets the medical criteria for release, the judge said.

Monday’s ruling is at least the second time a court has refused to free a prisoner who is either terminally ill or totally incapacitated and considered eligible for release under that law. The statute itself came in response to a recommendation from the New Jersey Criminal Sentencing & Disposition Commission, which said the state’s former medical release program was “rarely used” because it was too difficult for seriously ill individuals to navigate.

Since it became law about a year ago, one only one inmate has been freed via compassionate release, according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

After a roughly three-hour hearing Monday, Superior Court Judge Ronald Wigler denied release to Al-Damany Kamau, formerly known as Eddie Lee Oliver.

Kamau was convicted of murdering Det. John Sczyrek in June 1993 to prevent him from testifying against Kamau’s brother and cousin in an unrelated drug case at the same Essex County Courthouse where Monday’s hearing was held. Kamau also seriously wounded a sheriff’s officer, Ralph Rizzolo, and injured Tom King, another police officer, as he tried to escape.

‘Zero compassion’

“This defendant deserves the same compassion that he showed Detective Sczyrek and Detective Rizzolo, which is zero compassion,” Wigler ruled from the bench, emphasizing the word “zero.”

Wigler said he did not agree that Kamau, 53, is terminally ill. But it does appear that Kamau, who is bedridden with end-stage multiple sclerosis, is totally incapacitated.

“This court has the discretion, even if he did meet the criteria, to deny the application,” Wigler said.

Tonya Campbell, Kamau’s sister, said she had hoped the judge would grant release but feared he would not. Wigler was “biased. It was personal. He was vindictive” in his ruling, rather than simply applying the law.

“We’re not here trying to relive 1993,” she said, adding, “It’s just a sad situation.”

Campbell, who said she feels “great remorse” for Sczyrek’s family, said Kamau’s attorneys plan to appeal the denial. She still hopes to be able to bring him to North Carolina and care for him until his death.

“I just wish my brother could go in peace,” she said. “I’m just hoping he can go in a calm way.”

Kamau’s public defenders argued that while they don’t dispute the seriousness of his crime, that is not supposed to be a factor determining whether to grant compassionate release.

Emotional considerations

“We have heard emotional testimony today from Det. Sczyrek’s family and friends. They understandably object to his release,” said Abigail Fisch, one of Kamau’s public defenders. “We do not question the trauma and suffering that they have endured as a result of this. But we don’t allow victims to make these kinds of determinations. And the statute only tasks the judge with determining whether the petitioner has satisfied the statutory criteria.”

Kamau is considered terminally ill and “requires 24-hour care” and is “unable to carry out the activities of basic living,” which include feeding, dressing or bathing himself or using the toilet, testified Dr. Arthur Brewer, the medical director for the corrections department’s health care vendor. Kamau has been hospitalized eight times since last April and is now at Cooper University Hospital in Camden where he has been a patient for more than a week, Brewer said.

Acting First Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Romesh Sukhdeo argued that Kamau was not eligible for release, pointing to testimony Brewer gave that Kamau’s condition had improved since entering Cooper Hospital earlier this month and that he could live for another year.

Wigler agreed that Kamau was not terminally ill but said he is still eligible for release under the law because he is totally incapacitated. Still, the judge said he had the discretion to order Kamau to remain incarcerated and appeared swayed by the nature of the crimes Kamau committed.

Shocking crime

“The statute doesn’t say the court shall release an inmate who qualifies, the statute says the court may,” Wigler said. “It’s sort of ironic that we’re here pursuant to a new statute for compassionate release of certain inmates when this particular defendant committed perhaps one of the most heinous, brutal, bold, cold-blooded, premeditated murders ever committed in Essex County and dare I say the state of New Jersey, that shocked the entire community.”

But Fisch argued that the nature of the crime is not supposed to be a factor in deciding whether to grant compassionate release.

“The Legislature plainly intended that the compassionate release statute would cover even the most heinous crimes when it passed the statute last year, when it removed the power from the (New Jersey State) Parole Board to grant release to terminally ill inmates and vested the courts with that power,” she said. “It actively expanded eligibility to include those convicted of murder, manslaughter and other serious crimes, a group who the parole board had previously excluded from incineration.”

That law took effect a year ago, after passing the Senate and Assembly with bipartisan support and being signed by Gov. Phil Murphy. The Criminal Sentencing & Disposition Commission had recommended the change saying that only five people had been released in five years under the previous medical parole statute. The law’s legislative sponsors said it was meant to streamline the release process, offer compassion to inmates who are dying or so incapacitated as to pose no threat of reoffending and save the state money.

Under the law, an inmate who is certified by two doctors as terminally ill with six to 12 months to live or is permanently incapacitated and who cannot perform the daily activities of life due to an illness not present at the time of sentencing is eligible to request release. Inmates are given the right to an attorney to argue for their release, a right they don’t have, before the parole board. The attorney general’s office or a county prosecutor can object.

Witnesses called

That happened in this case. Sukhdeo called four witnesses, including both other law enforcement officers injured that day 29 years ago and the wife and brother of Sczyrek.

“This is called a compassionate release. There was no compassion for my husband when he was shot from behind when he was unarmed,” said Cheryl Sczyrek. “I hold no ill will towards his family. I actually can understand why they would want him home … I don’t believe that this is in the best interests of anybody.”

“The objection is this gentleman is not fit, unfortunately, for society,” said Rizzolo, the former sheriff’s officer who recounted being shot in the chest and watching “my badge spinning down the hallway in slow motion” as he testified via Zoom from his home in Florida. “I’m more worried about the person or persons that he may come in contact with … There’s no possible way in my opinion that he could function in society.”

As for the argument that compassionate releases would save the state the high cost of providing care for the seriously ill, Tom King, the other officer wounded that day, said he would start a Go FundMe page to get contributions — and contribute himself — to keep Kamau incarcerated.

“I can’t see how this is even being entertained,” he said.

Several members of Kamau’s family were in the courtroom to support his release, but all declined to testify. Had the judge granted the release, Kamau’s sister had planned to bring him to North Carolina to live with her until his death.