Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson recommended on Wednesday that dismissed NYPD rookie cop Peter Liang not serve his sentence in jail for the manslaughter conviction over the death or unarmed black man Akai Gurley. Instead, he recommended five years of probation.
The recommendation comes with the condition that Peter Liang serve six months confined at his house with electric monitoring. He should also perform 500 hours community service, reported the New York Post.
Thompson explained that while Liang’s reckless actions caused Gurley, an innocent man, to die, there is no evidence that the former policeman intended to kill or hurt Gurley. The cop went to the tenement as part of his job to keep Brooklyn’s residents safe.
Because of the jury’s conviction of Liang in February, he faced spending up to 15 years in jail for the accidental shooting of Gurley on Nov. 20, 2014, at a Pink Houses stairwell.
The DA pointed out that Liang had no prior criminal history and is not a threat to public safety in the future. “Because his incarceration is not necessary to protect the public, and due to the unique circumstances of this case, a prison sentence is not warranted,” Thompson said.
Thompson stressed that there are no winners in this case. Although Gurley added to the growing list of unarmed black men killed by police officers, Liang’s circumstances drew support from the public, particularly among Chinese Americans.
Robert Brown, one of Liang’s lawyers, described the DA’s recommendation as promising. Liang is slated for sentencing on April 14. But Gurley’s family said they were outraged by Thompson’s recommendation and hopes Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun would ignore it, reported CBS.