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| Pa. Sisters Reunited After Parole Order |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/05/2003 |
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Two sisters kept apart for years by prison bars and parole rules were reunited after the state rescinded an order that they have no contact with each other. Nicole and Ashley Simone spent the day together in Scranton Tuesday after seeing each other for the first time since Dec. 1, when Nicole was paroled from jail after serving almost four years for a teenage drunken-driving accident that killed a 16-year-old friend. As a condition of her release, the state parole board had ordered Nicole to stay away from anyone who had been in her car on the night of the fatal wreck, including her sister. The rule had forced Ashley, 18, to move out of her mother's house so that Nicole, 22, could move back home. The family also had their Christmas holiday in split shifts, with one sister opening presents while the other waited for her turn across town. But after a monthlong protest by the family, the board informed the sisters Tuesday that it had dropped the parole condition. 'Oh, I'm so happy about it. They needed each other,' said their mother, Angie Simone. 'It will be nice to do things as a family again. Even if it's just to go shopping or to the movies.' The ruling was finalized a day before the family was scheduled to go to court to fight the restriction. Stay-away orders are common for parolees and are usually enforced to keep ex-cons from harassing their victims or from reuniting with criminal associates. Parole Board spokeswoman Lauren Taylor said such restrictions are also commonly put on relatives in cases in which one family member has been injured by another. In the case of the Simone sisters, however, Taylor said the board was willing to relent when it became clear that Ashley bore Nicole no ill will over the crash. 'The whole purpose of being on parole is to help someone integrate back into the community,' Taylor said. 'In this case, it was clear that the family felt that the best way to support Ms. Simone was to let her see her sister.' The siblings spent part of the day looking for new jobs, their mother said. Ashley hasn't decided yet whether to move back to her mother's Nanticoke home from the three-room apartment she rented when she had to leave home in December. 'She's fixed it up pretty nice, and I think she wants to try being out on her own for a little while,' Angie Simone said. The sisters didn't immediately return phone messages Tuesday. Nicole Simone pleaded guilty to homicide by motor vehicle after the 1998 wreck, in which a passenger, Justin Pehala, was killed. The state's orders that she stay away from Pehala's family, and from another passenger who was partly blinded by her injuries, remain in effect. |
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