The verdict came after 17 hours of jury deliberations that started Tuesday.
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His legal representatives insisted that the police officer was in shock after the incident.
In New York, a grand jury on Staten Island decided not to indict an officer in the 2014 chokehold death of 43-year-old Eric Garner, whose dying words, “I can’t breathe”, became a rallying cry for protesters. His sentencing hearing will take place April 14.
Even after the conviction, some uncertainty lingers in the case, as a judge had yet to rule on a request from Liang’s lawyers to dismiss the charges, the Associated Press noted.
Ken Thompson, Kings County district attorney, said the ruling showed that “no matter where you live in Brooklyn, your life matters” as the Guardian reported. “Fear and panic can not excuse recklessness, especially on the part of a highly trained police officer”, Alexis added.
During closing arguments, the officer’s lawyer called the fatal shooting tragic, but not a crime, stressing that Liang followed procedures.
Prosecutors said Liang’s actions were reckless.
Liang, who remains free on bail, left the courthouse without comment.
Two officers were shot earlier this month in a similar staircase to the one where Gurley was killed. Liang is Chinese-American.
Liang, a rookie cop, was holding a flashlight in his right hand and a Glock 9 mm in the other hand.
“There’s nothing in the world that can heal my pain, my heartache”, Gurley’s mother, Sylvia Palmer, told WNYC in 2014.
Meanwhile, Liang’s supporters have said he was scapegoated for past injustices. A New York Daily News analysis found there were at least 179 deaths by on-duty police officers in New York City the past 15 years. PBA president Patrick Lynch spoke out against the verdict. He was sacked from the force after the ruling, an NYPD spokesman said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement Thursday night that he respects the jury’s decision finding Peter Liang guilty of manslaughter and official misconduct.
The last officer convicted in a killing in the line of duty was Brian Conroy.
His indictment and conviction came as more attention is being paid to fatal shootings by police and, over the a year ago, more officers were facing charges.
Liang, 28, testified that he was patrolling a stairwell inside a public housing complex in Brooklyn when he was startled by a sound and fired his weapon by mistake.
The bullet ricocheted off a wall and struck 28-year-old Gurley, who had just entered the stairwell, in the chest. “In fact, instead of calling for help, he just stood there and whined and moaned about how he would get fired”.
The officers went down the stairs onto an eighth-floor landing, while one floor down Gurley and his girlfriend opened a stairway door.
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Liang then radioed for an ambulance, but he acknowledged not helping Gurley’s girlfriend try to revive him.
