Judge rules ex-NYPD cop Peter Liang does not deserve new trial for killing Akai Gurley
Ex-NYPD officer Peter Liang does not deserve a new trial for killing Akai Gurley -- though one of the jurors who found him guilty made anti-cop comments online, a judge ruled Thursday.
Protestors expressed their dismay outside of the courthouse in Brooklyn on Thursday, calling for Officer Peter Liang to be sentenced for shooting Akai Gurley to death.
The ruling by Supreme Court Justice Denny Chun means that Liang will be sentenced Tuesday for gunning down the unarmed and innocent dad in the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project in 2014.
Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson has recommended Liang, 28, serve no prison time.
Liang's sentencing was delayed due to the revelation that Juror No. 9, Michael Vargas, had failed to disclose that his father had served seven years in prison for manslaughter. Liang's attorneys then found Facebook posts in which Vargas criticized cops.
"Every time police kill an innocent person, it brings the country one step closer to a revolution," Vargas wrote on Facebook in September 2014.
Prosecutors then dug up a half-dozen comments from Vargas's Facebook this year in which he spoke positively about police.
Chun acknowledged that Vargas may have waffled in his rambling answers during jury selection, but attributed that to the retired carpenter being “not at the top level of intelligence.”
Akai Gurley was shot in a dimly lit stairwell in Brooklyn public housing by a scared rookie cop, Peter Liang.
The defense had not proved that Vargas deliberately angled to get on the Liang jury so he could convict the rookie cop, Chun said.
The judge pointed out that in a post-trial interview with The Daily News, Vargas had said that he felt bad for Liang, prayed for him and likened him to his own nephew, who is a cop.
“There’s nothing in post verdict statements indicating that he wanted to get on this jury to convict the defendant,” Chun said.
Liang's attorney, Paul Shectman, said he was disappointed by the ruling and said the issue of juror misconduct would be part of an appeal.
Earlier, around 200 protesters railed against the delay of Liang’s sentencing, as well as Thompson's recommendation he be given probation.
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