NYC officer convicted of manslaughter in stairwell shooting

NEW YORK (AP) — A rookie police officer who shot an unarmed man dead in a darkened public housing stairwell was convicted Thursday of manslaughter in a case closely watched by advocates for police accountability.

The courtroom audience gasped and Officer Peter Liang, who had broken into tears as he testified about the 2014 shooting of Akai Gurley, buried his head in his hands as the verdict came after 17 hours of jury deliberations. Liang is the first New York City police officer convicted in an on-duty death since 2005.

The manslaughter charge, a felony, carries up to 15 years in prison, though no requirement for any prison time. Liang was dismissed from the New York Police Department right after the verdict. His sentencing is April 14.

But an uncertainty remains: Brooklyn state Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun has yet to rule on Liang's lawyers' request to dismiss the charges. Liang also was convicted of official misconduct, a misdemeanor.

Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson said "justice was done" for Gurley.

"He was an innocent man who was killed by a police officer who violated his training," said Thompson, whose mother was a police officer.

But Liang's lawyers said they struggled to understand how the jury could find him guilty in a shooting he said happened accidentally in a pitch-dark stairway.