By Laura Italiano
New York Post
February 12, 2016
Only after they each pulled the trigger on ex-cop Peter Liang’s service weapon did 12 Brooklyn jurors agree that he was not telling the truth about how it went off and convict him of manslaughter, one of the panelists revealed Friday.
“Ultimately, it was very important,” Juror No. 10, Carlton Screen, told The Post, recalling how testing the unloaded gun led them to conclude that the rookie had lied about not having his finger on trigger when it fired and killed unarmed Akai Gurley, 28, in an East New York stairwell.
Liang had testified that he had his gun drawn and his finger off the trigger while patrolling a dark stairwell at the Louis Pink Houses on Nov. 20, 2014.
The weapon, he had claimed, “just went off.”
But in holding the 9mm Glock and pulling its trigger themselves Thursday afternoon, jurors reached a consensus: There was no way it could have gone off by being jostled.
“We knew his testimony wasn’t completely true,” Screen said. “I don’t think we hit it like that, that he was an intentional liar. But we all agreed he wasn’t being truthful.”
Experts had testified that it took 11 pounds of trigger pressure to fire the gun.
“It was very hard to pull the trigger,” said Screen, 69, a retired candy-store owner from Flatbush.
“They had another safety that’s on the trigger itself, so you have to pull it hard enough to release that safety in order for it to fire.”
For most of the jurors, it was the first time they had ever held a gun, Screen said. Some refused when first offered the chance to try it during testimony.
Deliberations began in earnest Wednesday. They voted on the reckless-manslaughter count Thursday afternoon, Screen said.
“It was 10 to two for conviction, but the two were a little bit doubtful,” he said. So all 12 then went out and tried the gun. The verdict came soon after.
“It all revolves around that shot,” Screen said.
Deliberations were “professional,” and jurors never delved into other police shootings, said Screen, the panel’s only black member.
Liang, 28, was fired from the NYPD upon Thursday night’s conviction. He will face up to 15 years behind bars when he is sentenced April 14.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Less than 24-hours after the jury convicted Liang, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton fired Liang’s partner Shaun Landau. Bratton could fire Landau without cause because he was still a probationary officer. Landau had testified for the prosecution under a grant of immunity during the trial of his former partner.
I seriously doubt Officer Liang would have been charged and tried for anything were it not for the ‘Ferguson effect.’ Before Michael brown was shot dead by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, the Liang case would have been considered a tragic accident. I think that’s what it really was. While Liang deserved to be disciplined for screwing up, he should not have been fired and certainly not criminally charged.
1 comment:
Glocks and other modern pistols do not just go off by themselves. He had his finger inside the trigger guard, though possibly not on the trigger, when he was startled. A UNIVERSAL reaction to being startled is to tense up and close your fist. If you are holding a gun, and your finger is inside the trigger guard, it is likely the gun will fire. That is why cops are trained to keep their finger out of the trigger guard until they are moving onto a target. It was a screw-up, probably not deliberate. The jury didn't believe him. He may not have been DELIBERATELY telling a lie but the jury didn't buy it.
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