CARROLL'S SENTENCE COMMUTED

New York Gov. David A. Paterson granted clemency Wednesday to a woman
he said made "tremendous achievements" in more than eight years behind
bars. Joanne Carroll, 43, obtained a college degree, trained dogs for
the disabled and worked in a parenting center at Bedford Hills state
prison, Paterson said.

For that, Carroll can apply for parole in January -- 6 1/2 years
before her 15-year sentence ends.

What Paterson didn't mention was the July 17, 2000, crime in Norwich
that put Carroll behind bars.

It was, prosecutors said at the time, a drug deal gone bad that ended
in murder.

Witnesses described an armed Carroll, then 34, and her boyfriend,
Xavier Valentine, also armed, barging into a Norwich drug dealer's
house, demanding money and drugs, and leaving the 20-year-old man dead
on the floor, a hole in his chest from a shotgun blast.

"Joanne put the gun in my face and told me to get down," said witness
Misty Graef, in later trial testimony. Graef was the 18-year-old
friend of Edward Pastore Jr., who sold marijuana out of a house on
Lewis Road and died there of a shotgun wound to the chest.

Pastore allegedly owed Valentine $15,000.

The mayhem continued that night on Lewis Road, witnesses said. Graef
described hearing Pastore being beaten and his hands duct-taped
together. Valentine then ordered Pastore to open a safe, before he
shot Pastore, Graef testified.

Valentine then ordered Graef to open the safe and when she couldn't,
Valentine used his last two shotgun shells to try to shoot the safe
door open, testimony indicated. That probably saved Graef's life and
the life of Pastore's roommate, prosecutors said.

Carroll and Valentine, then 38 and the father of Carroll's children,
were arrested two weeks later in Staten Island where they lived.
Police also found Pastore's safe in their home. Prosecutors at one
time considered the death penalty for Valentine.

Carroll pleaded guilty in 2001 to one felony count of first-degree
robbery in return for the 15-year prison sentence. She'd been indicted
earlier on second-degree murder and other felonies.

Valentine is serving 23 years to life after admitting in 2001 that he
shot Pastore.

Paterson said Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride did not
oppose clemency for Carroll. McBride couldn't be reached Wednesday.

Carroll and Freddie Warren, 56, of Suffolk County, were granted
clemency out of the 450 applications for appeal. Warren has served 18
on a felony drug conviction.

Carroll has expressed remorse for her crime and is a model prisoner,
the governor said. "Ms. Carroll had a troubled childhood, which led
her to drug addiction at a young age and repeated involvement in
abusive relationships," Paterson said.