Gurley, also 28, had stepped into the stairwell of his apartment building with his girlfriend because the elevators were not working.
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But on Tuesday, Brooklyn state Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun reduced Liang’s conviction to the lesser felony of criminally negligent homicide. My life has forever changed. “I hope I have a chance to improve it”. An earlier attempt to throw out his conviction failed.
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, a highly regarded and impeccably credentialed prosecutor, is learning the hard way why prosecutors rarely indict police officers when they shoot civilians, even innocent ones. The fact that he was convicted at all, for some of the protestors, came down to him being Chinese American and not white, like the officers involved in other high-profile killings of unarmed black men, such as the Eric Garner or Michael Brown cases. Protesters claimed that Liang was unfairly made a sacrifice to ease the intensified friction between the police force and black communities all around the country.
Liang and his partner said they felt unqualified to help aid Gurley as he lay bleeding on the stairwell floor. Dozens of demonstrators representing both sides gathered Tuesday on opposite sides of the street outside the courthouse, separated by police barricades.Nobody really won here, Liang supporter Karlin Chan said. Liang opened a door to the stairwell and fired his weapon once accidentally.
“This decision compromises the perception of fairness and independence that is vital to improving public confidence in the justice system and to restoring effective community-police relations”, said Sherrilyn Ifill, the organization’s president and director-counsel. “Because the incarceration of the defendant is not necessary to protect the public, and because of the unique circumstances of this case, the People do not believe that a prison sentence is warranted”, D.A. Kenneth Thompson wrote in a letter to the judge last month.
“The mother of Gurley’s daughter, “‘I will never forget the words of [Mayor Bill] de Blasio when he said [Gurley] should still be alive”.
After hearing the sentence, Mr Gurley’s relatives wept and hugged outside the courthouse.
Gurley’s aunt, Hertensia Petersen, says the outcome shows “there’s no justice”. Liang is Chinese-American.Gurleys family said Liang had been let off lightly.Theres no justice. “You took a piece of me”. “Your life is not going to be like everybody’s life”.
“Akai’s life doesn’t matter”.
Police brutality has become a major concern across the nation in recent years. The LA Times writes Liang said he was “startled by a loud noise”.
Before the sentencing, Liang apologized to Gurley’s family, with his lawyer adding the former cop “is not a villain or a demon”.
On the other hand, Liang also has his own supporters.
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After Gurley was shot, the officers argued about which one of them would report the firearm discharge to their bosses, rather than performing CPR to the dying man. Later, Liang claimed that he didn’t know that he had shot someone. Their admissions prompted Police Commissioner William Bratton to launch an investigation into training. Liang’s attorneys had sought to get the verdict tossed out based on juror misconduct, but the judge refused.
