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NY Officer Convicted of Negligent Homicide

By TChris, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Sat Oct 22, 2005 at 12:10:10 PM EST
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by TChris

TalkLeft reported here the manslaughter charge against Bryan Conroy, a New York police officer who shot an unarmed African immigrant he suspected of smuggling counterfeit CD's. The victim, Ousmane Zongo, wasn't involved in that crime. Zongo was apparently frightened of the officer, who was wearing plain clothes and pointing a gun. Zongo, who spoke little English, tried to flee. Conroy gave chase. Conroy claims Zongo lunged at him before he shot Zongo four times.

Conroy's first trial ended in a hung jury, 10-2 in favor of a manslaughter conviction. Conroy, undoubtedly worried that his defense wasn't playing well to jurors, waived a jury for his second trial. That gamble paid off, as the judge acquitted Conroy of manslaughter. He found Conroy guilty of negligent homicide, a lesser crime that exposes Conroy to a maximum prison term of four years.

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    NY Officer Convicted of Negligent Homicide | 7 comments (7 topical)
    Re: NY Officer Convicted of Negligent Homicide (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    Unbelievable! Any bets on what the sentence will be?

    Re: NY Officer Convicted of Negligent Homicide (none / 0) (#2)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    frankly, i'm surprised he was convicted of anything. getting a policeman's license in this country seems also to convey a license to kill, maim and brutalize, with impunity. any wonder at all about the atrocities in abu-ghraib?

    Re: NY Officer Convicted of Negligent Homicide (none / 0) (#3)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    So what are the distinctions between manslaughter and negligent homicide in New York. Is someone claiming judges side with police? If that's the case, then how about some background on the judge. Seems a judge, felt the most reasonable avenue was negligent homicide. Why he went for a court trial is beyond me though, those almost always end in a guilty verdict.

    Re: NY Officer Convicted of Negligent Homicide (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    It's called "gaming the system". After all, what do you think those PBA dues pay for - damned fine defense attorneys. And, yes, it IS a license to kill. Yet, to be fair, as my cop buddies all say: "better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6". It's all a matter of perspective.

    Re: NY Officer Convicted of Negligent Homicide (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    Justice Straus should be recalled if that is possible in NY. That brings it back to the people, who were left out of the second trial. It is the same here in Denver. Police, the DA office and the judiciary all feel they need each other's cooperation.

    Re: NY Officer Convicted of Negligent Homicide (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    What exactly is negligent homicide? That's ridiculous. Does it mean that the cop neglected to see that this man wasn't any kind of threat to society at all? The cop should have been relieved of any kind of duties involving a gun for life for lack of any kind of intelligence. Because there's nothing scarier in society than a stupid cop on a power trip with a gun. But it was a lot less dangerous for the cop to chase after someone for conterfeit CDs who didn't have a gun rather than chase drug dealers, murderers, guys that hold-up convenient stores, or other criminals that would be packin', so the cop was using his head there, at least when it came to looking out for himself. And counterfeit CDs, please. How bogus of a story is that? Even if it were true, who hasn't burned a couple CDs of their own or for that matter taped some songs off of a radio station. What's next, swat teams busting down our doors and coming into our homes to shoot us for music that we recorded onto CDs and cassette tapes illegally? And does anyone see something else wrong with the cop's story? First he was chasing the man and then the man just turns around and lunges at him. Like who wouldn't run from someone in plain clothes with a gun? And it's just nuts to say that then this man who was unarmed stops running away and turns around so that he can wait to lunge at the guy with the gun when he catches up to him. I don't understand how any judicial system could let this officer get off for shooting this man in cold blood, which is what this really amounts to. Even if one of NY's finest gets the maximum sentence of 4 years for "negligent homicide" he won't serve 4 years and my bet is he gets off completely. This is one of the worst injustices that I have heard of in some time and it makes me feel utterly sick at how powerless we have become against injustices such as this one. When something of this nature occurs we should try to take some of the power back that was given to us by the laws that were made to protect us. These laws were not written to be manipulated and abused by people who think that they are above them. We can write or call our state senators and let them know how we feel about this and also let them know that if they don't stand behind us we won't stand behind them in the next election.

    Re: NY Officer Convicted of Negligent Homicide (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:58 PM EST
    I can only say "Only in America"

    NY Officer Convicted of Negligent Homicide | 7 comments (7 topical)