A Brooklyn judge on Thursday denied a motion to toss out ex-NYPD officer Peter Liang’s manslaughter conviction on the grounds of juror misconduct.
Liang, an ex-NYPD officer, was convicted in February of manslaughter for accidentally shooting Akai Gurley, 28, an unarmed man, in a New York housing project.
Liang’s lawyers filed a motion that his guilty verdict should be overturned because a juror did not disclose that the juror’s father was at one time incarcerated for an accidental shooting and also shared anti-police posts on Facebook.
Justice Danny Chun told the court that for a jury verdict to be overturned, it needs to be shown that there is both jury misconduct and that the misconduct “affected a substantial right of the defendant.”
“I find that on both ends, the defense has not met this burden,” Chun said.
Liang’s defense team argued that juror Michael Vargas “lied to the court … when he reported that no one in his ‘close family’ had been accused of a crime,” in the motion filed earlier this month.
“I am disappointed that we were unable to persuade the judge that Michael Vargas lied to get on the jury and exercise his bias against police officers,” Paul Shechtman, Liang’s attorney, told CNN in a statement.
Liang is expected to be sentenced on April 19.
