New York – A man convicted of fatally shooting a New York City police officer in 2015 was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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Demetrius Blackwell was convicted last month of first-degree murder and other charges in the death of Detective Brian Moore.
“You’re a cold, calculating killer,” Judge Gregory Lasak said before handing down the sentence. “You realize what you did. You killed a man for no reason.”
The 25-year-old officer and his partner were in street clothes in an unmarked car when they tried to stop Blackwell, who was suspected of carrying a gun. The 37-year-old Queens resident opened fire, striking Moore in the head.
Moore died two days later.
The defense argued that Blackwell has severe mental health issues and was not in control of his actions.
Uniformed police officers and plainclothes detectives filled the courtroom during the sentencing.
“We’re paid to do this job,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said after the verdict. “Our families are not. Their courage is overwhelming and gives us all the strength we need to do this difficult job.”
In the old days, an animal such as the one who was convicted, would be sentenced to “Old Sparky”. In those days, capital appeals rarely lasted more than two years. For example, in 1956, a Jewish baby (Peter Weinberger) was murdered on Long Island. The perpetrator kidnapped the baby, and left the baby to die in a field. The killer was eventually caught, prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to death. He was executed two years later, in 1958. Today, even in the few states which use the death penalty, it takes 15-30 years to execute killers. Even in Connecticut which had a death penalty on its books, a liberal judge threw it out, a few years ago, regarding inmates who were sentenced to death, before a new law abolishing it became effective. The new law did not make it retroactive, but he did.
Ask PaulinSaudi, about what the Saudis do to two legged animals; they behead them in public, usually within a short time after conviction.