|
 A jury in Brooklyn found Peter Liang guilty in connection with the
death of Akai Gurley, 28, who was killed by a bullet fired from
Liang's gun on Nov. 20, 2014, that ricocheted off a wall.
A stunned Liang buried his head in his hands after the verdict was
read in court.
He faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced in April. The
mostly white jury deliberated for more than two days.
The shooting added to nationwide protests in cities like Baltimore
and Ferguson, Missouri, over the use of police force against
minorities, though Liang, a Chinese-American, was not accused of
deliberately killing Gurley.
The rookie officer was on patrol inside a Brooklyn public housing
project with his partner and drew his gun upon entering a
pitch-black stairwell.
He fired a single bullet that glanced off a wall and into the chest
of Gurley, who was walking one floor below.
At trial, Liang, 28, testified that a sudden noise startled him,
causing his finger to slip onto the trigger and fire. It was only
after descending the stairs, Liang said, that he realized the errant
bullet had hit Gurley.
 "Oh my God, someone's hit," a tearful Liang recalled saying upon
finding a bleeding Gurley lying on a landing, as his girlfriend
frantically tried to revive him.
But prosecutors argued Liang fired toward the sound deliberately and
that he must have known only another person could have caused the
noise that surprised him.
"It was a tragedy, but justice was done," Brooklyn District Attorney
Kenneth Thompson told the television station NY1. He added that the
verdict showed Akai Gurley's life mattered, echoing the "Black Lives
Matter" movement.
A defense lawyer for Liang, Robert Brown, said he would appeal and
warned that the verdict would put officers in danger.
"It says to the NYPD, you have to be very cautious about taking your
gun out, to the point of risking your own life," he said.
Gurley's family and friends expressed gratitude after the
conviction.
"I'm just glad we got a guilty verdict," said Kimberly Ballinger,
his domestic partner and the mother of his young daughter.
Activists cheered the outcome on social media, with many saying it
was an important step in holding officers accountable. Organizers
had already called for a demonstration on Friday at police
headquarters regardless of the jury's decision.
[to top of second column] |
Liang's indictment last year came weeks after a grand jury declined
to charge a white New York officer in the chokehold death of Eric
Garner, an unarmed black man, sparking citywide protests.
Thompson said the Liang case had no connection to the ongoing debate
over police tactics.
"This officer was indicted not because of what is happening
elsewhere in the country but because of what happened in that
stairwell," he said. "This conviction is not a conviction of the
entire NYPD."
But Patrick Lynch, the president of the city's largest police union,
said the verdict "will have a chilling effect on police officers
across the city because it criminalizes a tragic accident."
Liang was also convicted of official misconduct for failing to offer
Gurley aid. His lawyers argued he was in shock and felt unqualified
to perform CPR due to inadequate training.
As the trial concluded on Tuesday, prosecutors offered jurors a new
and more damning account, claiming for the first time that Liang
aimed a shot on purpose toward the sound he heard.
"I think it's clear to you that he knew someone was there,"
Assistant District Attorney Joseph Alexis said in his closing
argument, adding that the shooting was "no accident."
Brown, the defense lawyer, said the jury may have been swayed when
the prosecution "changed their entire argument."
Liang's lawyers had portrayed the shooting as a "million-to-one"
occurrence. They also emphasized the dangers of so-called "vertical
patrols," a point that was underscored when two officers were shot
this month when conducting a similar patrol in a Bronx public
housing building.
In a statement, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he hoped the verdict would
bring some closure to Gurley's family.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Sandra Maler, Cynthia Osterman
and Bernard Orr)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
