A federal judge says a legal error within the Rockland District Attorney's office is what allowed the ruling that granted a new trial for the woman convicted of killing two Nyack cops and a security guard in the deadly 1981 Brinks robbery.

Judith Clark was convicted in 1983 for her part in the murders and is currently serving a 75 years to life sentence. A federal judge in New York has ordered Rockland prosecutors to retry Clark, stating she was not properly represented during the trial. Clark was a self-proclaimed revolutionary and did not want legal representation.

In December of 2005, Clark filed papers asking for a new trial. The Rockland County District Attorney?s office raised the statute of limitations issue as a defense in a supplemental response under the federal system. However, the federal judge says if the statute of limitations had been properly raised in the case, the court would be barred from considering the merits of Clark?s claim. The judge says given the district attorney's office default and the tardiness of the motion to amend, the court has no other choice but to grant a new trial. The district attorney is appealing the ruling on several causes.

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