Prior to his election to the assembly, Boyland served as an intern in the offices of several United States Congressmen, including those of fellow Brooklynites
Edolphus Towns and
Major Owens. Boyland comes from a family of
Brooklyn politicians. His sister,
Tracy L. Boyland, was the Chairwoman of the Women's Issues Committee on the
New York City Council. His uncle,
Thomas S. Boyland, was a member of the Assembly from 1977 to 1982, and his father,
William F. Boyland Sr., occupied a seat in the New York State Assembly for two decades. Boyland's father stepped down from the Assembly in the middle of a term, and Boyland sought election to the seat his father vacated. Boyland was first elected to the assembly in a 2003 special election. He represented Assembly District 55 in Brooklyn. On November 10, 2011, Boyland was acquitted of those charges. Before the end of the month, he was arrested again on separate federal bribery charges, with prosecutors claiming to have secretly recorded him soliciting $250,000 in bribes even while the first set of charges was still unresolved. Boyland's chief of staff, Ry-Ann Hermon, was also arrested on related charges, and eventually pleaded guilty. On March 8, 2013, Boyland was charged with three additional counts of
mail fraud for falsely securing tens of thousands of dollars in travel reimbursements. Several weeks later, another fraud charge was added for steering taxpayer money to a nonprofit agency and directing that agency to reimburse him for other expenses. On May 14, 2013, Boyland pleaded not guilty. On March 6, 2014, Boyland was convicted of all 21 felony counts he faced, including extortion, bribery, and mail fraud (Eastern District of New York, docket no. 11-CR-850). Upon conviction, Boyland immediately lost his seat in the Assembly. On December 12, 2024, Boyland's sentence was commuted by President
Joe Biden along with nearly 1500 other individuals that were released under the CARES Act, which allowed people with a high risk of COVID-19 to be released into home detention. == References ==