好消息,Peterliang不用坐牢
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/24/nyregion/prosecutor-wont-seek-prison-for-peter-liang-ex-officer-convicted-in-killing.html?_r=0
Prosecutor Won’t Seek Prison for Peter Liang, Ex-Officer Convicted in Killing
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. 评分完成:已经给本帖加上 20 银元!
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