r*******r
发帖数: 2565 | 1 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/24/nyregion/prosecutor-wont-seek
The Brooklyn district attorney’s office announced on Wednesday that it
would not seek prison time for the former New York City police officer
convicted last month in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man in a housing
project in East New York.
In a statement, the district attorney, Ken Thompson, said the case was about
“justice and not about revenge,” and recommended that the former officer,
Peter Liang, receive five years of probation, including six months of home
confinement, when he faces sentencing next month.
“Mr. Liang has no prior criminal history and poses no future threat to
public safety,” Mr. Thompson’s statement said. “Because his incarceration
is not necessary to protect the public, and due to the unique circumstances
of this case, a prison sentence is not warranted.”
Mr. Liang was on patrol in a stairwell with his partner in the Louis H. Pink
Houses on Nov. 20, 2014, when his gun fired and a ricocheting bullet struck
and killed Akai Gurley, a 28-year-old black man who was visiting his
girlfriend.
The killing of Mr. Gurley came barely four months after an another unarmed
black man, Eric Garner, died in a confrontation with the police on Staten
Island, and the two deaths pulled New York into a national debate over race
and the criminal justice system.
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A little more than more than a year after Mr. Gurley’s death, a state grand
jury indicted Mr. Liang on charges that included manslaughter. He was
convicted on Feb. 11, and then fired by the Police Department.
On Wednesday, Mr. Gurley’s family denounced the prosecutors’ decision.
“We are outraged at District Attorney Thompson’s inadequate sentencing
recommendation,” the family said in a statement. “Officer Liang was
convicted of manslaughter and should serve time in prison for his crime.
This sentencing recommendation sends the message that police officers who
kill people should not face serious consequences.”
Mr. Thompson’s statement, which was accompanied by a formal sentencing
letter, serves only as a recommendation to Justice Danny K. Chun of State
Supreme Court in Brooklyn, who is scheduled to hand down the sentence in the
case on April 14.
Document: Liang Sentencing Letter
In his sentencing letter, Mr. Thompson wrote that Mr. Liang’s actions had
“tragic and irreparable consequences,” but he also noted that there was no
evidence that Mr. Liang had intended to kill or even injure Mr. Gurley.
Scott Rynecki, a lawyer for Kimberly Ballinger, Mr. Gurley’s domestic
partner, said that while Mr. Thompson’s office had been able to do what
others rarely had — obtain the conviction of a police officer in the fatal
shooting of an innocent man — the recommendation of no prison time did not
diminish the “message that police are going to be held accountable for
committing a wrongful act.”
“He’s still asking for a significant sentence,” Mr. Rynecki said of the
district attorney.
Patrick J. Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association,
the city’s main police union, said the case against Mr. Liang should not
have been brought in the first place. “The reasons cited by the D.A. for
justifying no jail time in this tragedy are the very same reasons that the
officer should not have been indicted,” Mr. Lynch said.
Edward Mullins, the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, who
had also disagreed with Mr. Thompson for seeking the indictment of Mr. Liang
, the decision not to seek jail time was correct.
“Of course, Officer Liang shouldn’t be in jail,” Mr. Mullins said in a
statement. “He never should have been convicted.”
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Lumumba Bandele, a senior organizer for the NAACP Legal Defense and
Education Fund, who attended much of the trial, said that Mr. Thompson’s
decision left him disappointed and concerned about “the devaluation of
black and brown lives.”
“I think if the shoe were on the other foot” — if a civilian had
accidentally killed a police officer — “it would be highly unlikely we
would having this conversation,” Mr. Bandele said.
That sentiment was echoed by Johnetta Elzie, a founder of Campaign Zero, an
advocacy group affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement, which
focuses on ending police violence. “Could you imagine a sentence or
recommendation for a regular civilian?” Ms. Elzie asked. “Or if Akai had
shot and killed Peter? Skewed is not a strong enough word for what happened
today.”
Ms. Elzie then added: “This is not what justice looks like.”
New York City police officers are rarely indicted by grand juries, let alone
put on trial, for deaths they cause in the line of duty. The most recent to
be convicted of a line-of-duty killing was Brian Conroy who, in 2005, was
found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the fatal shooting of an
unarmed African immigrant named Ousmane Zongo. In that case, a State Supreme
Court judge sentenced Officer Conroy to five years of probation, a sentence
much like Mr. Thompson’s recommendation. | r*******r
发帖数: 2565 | | c****g
发帖数: 37081 | | l*******1
发帖数: 16217 | | r*******r
发帖数: 2565 | 5 估计会被老黑鸡奸致死，是美国的中国同胞救了他，是微信的组织能力救了他
【在 l*******1 的大作中提到】
: 他要是进去坐牢几乎是必死无疑啊
| s*******1
发帖数: 16479 | 6 应该谢谢马化腾 lol
【在 r*******r 的大作中提到】
: 估计会被老黑鸡奸致死，是美国的中国同胞救了他，是微信的组织能力救了他
| C********g
发帖数: 1548 | 7 Good news! happy for him! | s*********y
发帖数: 6151 | | l*********u
发帖数: 19053 | 9 re
about
officer,
home
【在 r*******r 的大作中提到】
: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/24/nyregion/prosecutor-wont-seek
: The Brooklyn district attorney’s office announced on Wednesday that it
: would not seek prison time for the former New York City police officer
: convicted last month in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man in a housing
: project in East New York.
: In a statement, the district attorney, Ken Thompson, said the case was about
: “justice and not about revenge,” and recommended that the former officer,
: Peter Liang, receive five years of probation, including six months of home
: confinement, when he faces sentencing next month.
: “Mr. Liang has no prior criminal history and poses no future threat to
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