Meanwhile, Chinese-American activists organized their own protests,
claiming Liang was serving as a scapegoat for police misconduct.
N.Y. officer faces sentencing in fatal shooting of black man
A former New York City
police officer convicted of manslaughter in the shooting of an unarmed
black man in an unlit stairwell is due to be sentenced on Tuesday, after
prosecutors recommended no prison time.
Peter Liang, a rookie who lost his badge after his February conviction, faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Liang
was patrolling the darkened stairs inside a public housing building in
Brooklyn on Nov. 20, 2014, when he fired a single shot. The bullet
ricocheted off a wall and struck 28-year-old Akai Gurley in the chest as he walked one floor below.
The
shooting fueled nationwide protests over law enforcement's use of
excessive force on minorities. But the Brooklyn case differed from many
of the other high-profile incidents that helped intensify the Black
Lives Matter movement. The officer, a Chinese-American, was not accused of deliberately killing Gurley.
Meanwhile,
Chinese-American activists organized their own protests, claiming Liang
was serving as a scapegoat for police misconduct.
Liang
tearfully testified at trial that he did not realize the bullet had hit
anyone until he went downstairs and saw Gurley's girlfriend desperately
trying to revive him. The officer claimed a noise had startled him,
causing his finger to slip onto the trigger and fire.
But prosecutors said he acted recklessly in drawing his weapon and discharging a round.
Gurley's
family have criticized Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson for
recommending no prison time. State Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun will
impose the sentence.
The sentencing comes days
after Chun rejected Liang's request for a new trial. Liang's lawyers
argued that a juror acknowledged he had failed to disclose during jury
selection that his father had been convicted of manslaughter.
The judge said the defense had not shown that the juror's omission violated Liang's rights.
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