Prosecutors watched Wednesday as New York Police Department Sergeant Hugh Barry was charged with the murder of mentally ill woman Deborah Danner, reports the New York Daily News.
From the New York Daily News:
The indictment of Sgt. Hugh Barry [who New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said didn’t follow police protocol in dealing with people with mental health issues] marked the first time since 1999 that a city cop faces a top homicide count.
In leveling the severe charge — rather than just manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide, as has been the case in other high-profile NYPD shootings — a Bronx grand jury rejected Barry’s testimony aimed at showing he had been justified in firing at 66-year-old Deborah Danner [in her Bronx apartment last October.] The eight-year veteran, who is white, stood silently as his lawyer entered a plea of not guilty to second-degree murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the shooting of the black victim [who was killed after police responded to 911 calls.]
Barry — who was suspended without pay and had testified before a grand jury last week — may face life in prison if convicted of murder, reports The New York Times.
SOURCE: New York Daily News, The New York Times
SEE ALSO:
NYPD Shoots & Kills 66-Year-Old Bat-Wielding Black Woman
