DA Ken Thompson requests “NO JAIL TIME” for NYPD cop Peter Liang, Charles Barron says, “Violence is Inevitable”

Assemblyman Charles Barron comforting Melissa Butler before the start of the press conference yesterday in response to District Attorney Ken Thompson’s recommendation letter to Judge Daniel Chun to not give NYPC cop Peter Liang, who killed Akai Gurley, any jail time and give him 6 months probation instead even though Peter Liang was found guilty of 2nd degree manslaughter in a court of law.

Assemblyman Charles Barron comforting Hertencia Petersen, Aunt of slain Akai Gurley, by touching her head, while she looked up to the sky before the start of the press conference yesterday to respond to the remarks of DA Ken Thompson in recommending No Jail Time for NYPD cop Peter Laing who killed Akai Gurley Nov 20 2014

Assemblyman Charles Barron with his hands on the shoulders of Melissa Butler, who was with Akai Gurley when he was shot and killed by NYPD cop Peter Liang and was the one who applied CPR to Akai Gurley via phone instructions from the 911 operator while Peter Liang called his Union Rep and looked for his shell casing. To the right of Melissa Butler is the Aunt of Akai Gurley, Hertencia Petersen, to her right is Nicholas Heyward Sr. who is still seeking justice after an NYPD cop shot and killed his 13 yr old son, Nicholas Naquan, Heyward Jr in 1994, a similar situation as Akai Gurley who was shot in a stairwell and to his right, Frank Graham, father of Ramarley Graham, who was un armed and also shot and killed by NYPD in his own apartment in front of his grandmother Feb 2 2012.

Charles Barron introduced the press conference yesterday making the point “get an indictment of manslaughter, get a conviction of manslaughter and then say he shouldn’t spend a day in jail, YOU ARE OUTTA YOUR MIND”, he said in front of press and receiving support from family and supporters. Barron said, the trial even shown that it “couldn’t have been an accident because you needed a certain amount of pressure to pull the trigger. Referring to Peter Liang, Charles Barron went on to say, “He didn’t even have enough courtesy, enough human sensitivity, a police officer, to apply CPR. MELISSA had to apply the CPR”, putting his arm around Melissa Butler as she began to cry. “and he can’t tell us that he didn’t know how to do CPR, he went for training. MELISSA DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO DO CPR. HOW DARE YOU KEN THOMPSON.” Charles Barron then went on to list some good things done by DA Ken Thompson, then went on to say “TODAY, ALL YOUR GOOD IS WHIPPED OUT. WE WILL NOT FORGET THIS because you’re sending a signal to people across the country, A BLACK MAN DOESN’T THINK BLACK LIVES MATTER. To DA Ken Thompson, Barron said, “Your hypocrisy is just a recommendation”, then called for judge Daniel Chun to “Do the Right Thing”. Barron then brought up the fact that Football player Michael Vick received 3 years in jail for his involvement in dog fighting on his property. “ARE YOU SAYING THAT OUR LIVES ARE NOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN A DOG’S LIFE?” Then Barron spoke about how the people have been doing Peaceful actions and protests and “They’re not hearing us”. He said, “DON’T MAKE US BRING FERGUSON TO NYC”, referring to the uprising that occurred in Ferguson after the killing of Michael Brown by Ferguson Police, Darren Wilson. “It seems as though the only thing this country understands is when we tear it down. Don’t blame me”,, Barron said. People in the streets are saying an Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a tooth and a Life for a Life. Then, Barron brought up Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the “Prince of Peace, RIOTS ARE THE VOICE OF THE UNHEARD. Am I saying that we should be violent?” Barron asked. “THE SYSTEM WILL DETERMINE THAT. You can’t keep having the people go through peaceful means, and you ignore them, THEN VIOLENCE IS INEVITABLE”.

Hertencia Petersen, the Aunt of Akai Gurley, spoke saying, “AKAI WAS MURDERED AGAIN BY DA KEN THOMPSON. The bullet that Peter Liang fired on Nov 20 2014 has struck him again on March 23rd 2106. Where is the justice for Akai Gurley’s mother? How can you look a mother in the eyes and say, you’ll do everything possible to get justice for her son and turn around and recommend No Jail Time? YOU’RE JUST AS GUILTY AS IF YOU PULLED THE TRIGGER”. Hertencia went on to say that Liang knew family members lived there when he went into the stairwell that dreadful night. “WHEN WILL POLICE BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE? Is this the legacy you will be leading? WE TRUSTED YOU, WE HAD HOPE that you would do what you said you would do. YOU HOODWINKED US. HOW DARE YOU LET MEMBERS OF THE PRESS AND SOCIAL MEDIA KNOW FIRST . HOW DARE YOU, KEN THOMPSON, SELL YOURSELF TO THE DEVIL” Hertencia called DA Ken Thompson a disgrace and a traitor. She brought up the date of December 2015 when Thompson told Akai Gurley’s mother that “he would do what he need to do”. “You got an indictment and you’re secretly writing a letter to the judge for leniency? Had it been Akai Gurley shooting Peter Liang he would not be on bail, HE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THE MAX, 15 years. ALL THE FAMILY WANTED FROM DAY 1 WAS FOR PETER LIANG TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE, IS THAT TOO HARD? YOU SOLD US OUT.”

Frank Graham, father of unarmed Ramarley Graham, who was shot in the chest killed in his own apartment in front of his grandmother when NYPD broke the door down while Ramarley flushed a small bag of marijuana down the toilet on Feb 2, 2012. “Once again, a sad, sad day. It seems like black life don’t matter. To the people who are supposed to protect and serve it doesn’t. To the DA it doesn’t.” Frank Graham called them “Devils. THOSE COMMITTING THESE CRIMES ARE DEVILS. You are going to be held accountable. There’s no True Bill and when they do come up with a true bill like in the case of Akai Gurley and get convicted, the DA recommends no Jail time. WHICH ONE OF US WOULD BE THAT LUCKY? THIS SYSTEM IS SO CORRUPT AND IT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED”.

Nicholas Heyward Sr. speaking about the death of his 13 year old son, Nicholas Heyward Jr, in 1994 while paying with colorful plastic toy guns in the stairwell of the Wycoff Houses. The friends of Nicholas said Nicholas dropped the toy gun after NYPD Brian George said to them, “what are you all doing here?” and Heyward replied, “We’re only playing, we’re only playing” and was shot in the stomach and died later. Mr Heyward began by professing his disappointment in DA Ken Thompson because just a couple of weeks earlier, I filmed the press conference at this exact spot on the re opening the case of Nicholas Heyward Jr. by DA Ken Thompson. Nicholas Heyward Sr. was fulled with hope at the idea that his sons case was going to be looked into and, although documents were missing and there were no case #’s on the documents that did exist which implied a cover up by then, DA Charley Hynes, Ken Thompson was going to start from scratch using the replica plastic toy gun that Heyward Jr was playing with in the stairwell which had a brightly colored orange tip. making it impossible to confuse it with a real gun. “For Ken Thompson to recommend No Jail time is uncivilized and it makes no sense at all. Peter Liang was convicted by a jury of law. How you can not get jail time is beyond me”. Nicholas Heyward Sr. expressed real hope in Ken Thompson bringing real justice to Brooklyn in looking into his son’s case. Now, my hopes of getting any type of justice for my son, I feel like it’s going no where”. “WHEN THAT COP REMOVED HIS GUN FROM HIS HOLSTER, PULLED THE TRIGGER, WHAT DO YOU THINK HIS INTENTIONS WERE? What did he think was going to happen? A bullet is going to come out of there and bullets kill innocent lives?”

“Melissa Butler demonstrated courage”, said attorney Roger Wareham outside 350 Jay St yesterday in front of DA Ken Thompson’s office after hearing about him recommending leniency for NYPD cop Peter Liang who was convicted by a jury of 2nd degree manslaughter. “She stayed with Akai, she didn’t run out of the building. She applied CPR, which she had never done, to Akai. Liang said he was in shock, that’s why he didn’t do it, and hadn’t been trained. That didn’t stop Melissa Butler”, while Melissa Butler hid her face in her hand and into the side of Mr. Wareham’s coat, tears streaming down her face. “Melissa is a very shy person, yet she came to court to give the testimony that led to the conviction of Peter Laing. When we found out yesterday that the DA recommended no Jail time, Melissa’s reaction was, “IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING”, Melissa crying in his side. “MELISSA’S COURAGE HAS TO BE JUXTAPOSED TO THE LACK OF COURAGE BY THE DA”. Wareham uses a football analogy where Thompson is about to make the winning touchdown, but, stops to throw the ball out of bounds, “IT’S A FAILURE OF COURAGE. I’ve practiced criminal law for almost a quarter of a century, “THIS SYSTEM WOULD BREAK DOWN IF EVERY ONE EXERCISED THEIR RIGHT TO TRIAL. So they offer plea bargains but, people who go to trial know, IF YOU GO TO TRIAL AND YOU LOSE, THEY’RE GOING TO GIVE YOU JAIL TIME. THEY DO THAT BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT PEOPLE TO EXERCISE THEY’RE RIGHT TO TRIAL. They want YOU to pay for having put them through the expense and time of going to trial. This is true for E felony, much less C felony where LIANG WOULD HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT UP TO 15 YEARS IN JAIL”. Thompson said, This is a Unique case” – Wareham. Putting ‘unique’ around it does not make it any different than the exercising the double standard that always exist when cops are accused of violating people’s rights, murdering them, assaulting them, which is why it continues. Cops always knew that YOU CAN DO ANYTHING IN A BLACK AND BROWN COMMUNITY AND YOU”RE NOT GOING TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.” “ANYBODY ELSE WHO COMMITTED THIS CRIME WOULD BE GOING TO JAIL”. Wareham talked about the jury who picked up the gun and found how much force needed to be exerted in order to pull the trigger.

Melissa Butler in tears, who was with Akai Gurley in the stairwell and was the one who did CPR via instructions by the 911 operator over the phone, when Peter Liang’s bullet hit him in the chest.

Reiterating the words of Hertencia Petersen, Inez Barron spoke saying, that first NYPD killed Akai Gurley, now by the DA himself. “It’s too bad we don’t have a whistleblower protection so that those of them that know what the deal was that this DA made, can come forth and tell us what that deal was. Inez referenced the point that a man’s home is his castle and told the people listening to hold onto the thought, then thanked the jury for the job they did. “You heard the witness, the testimony, THANK GOD THERE WAS A WITNESS, A CIVILIAN WHO COULD TELL US WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED OTHERWISE WE WOULD HAVE HEARD A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY”, referring to Melissa Butler, Akai Gurley’s friend. “THE JURY HEARD THAT HE HAD HIS GUN OUT, VIOLATION OF POLICY, HE HAD HIS FINGER ON THE TRIGGER, VIOLATION OF POLICY. HE DIDN’T CALL IT IN, HE WANTED TO GET PROTECTION FROM HIS UNION. HE WENT LOOKING FOR HIS BULLET. HE PROBABLY STEPPED OVER THE DYING PERSON LOOKING FOR PROTECTION FOR HIMSELF”. “The jury heard that, and said “this man is guilty’ and gave us a conviction. “WHAT IN THE WORLD IS DA KEN THOMPSON THINKING? He’s supposed to be the person we go to looking for protection and for justice”.

Words exchanged among the crowd after the press conference concluded. Carmen Ojeda, mother of Briana Ojeda, who died of an asthma attack after being delayed enroute to the hospital by a cop, pictured here in the gray blouse.

Joshua Lopez, who’s Uncle John Collado, was shot and killed by an undercover NYPD cop for breaking up a fight the cop, who was unidentified plainclothes narcotics detective James Connelly, was in with his Uncle’s friend on Sept. 9 2011.

DA Ken Thompson requests “NO JAIL TIME” for NYPD cop Peter Liang, Charles Barron says, “Violence is Inevitable”

Author: Cat April Watters

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