New York Post, April 22, 2015
A police union chief was outraged and a cop’s wife left in tears as a Manhattan jury on Wednesday cleared a Harlem madman of attempted murder for stabbing the cop in the head, causing serious long-term injuries.
“It is impossible to conceive of a reason why this jury got this verdict so wrong,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch railed. “The facts of the crime are the very definition of attempted murder of a police officer.”
The surprising verdict, which came after just five hours of deliberation, left Det. Eder Loor’s wife, Dina, sobbing as she collapsed into the arms of a relative.
The jury’s decision means Terrance Hale, 29, has dodged a life sentence for plunging a jagged 3 ¹/₂–inch blade into Loor’s skull, piercing his brain, on April 17, 2012.
The jury did convict Hale of the lesser raps of assault, aggravated assault of a police officer and weapon’s possession for which he faces a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of 25 years prison.
“Officer Loor is only alive today by the grace of God and talent of the medical professionals who cared for him,” Lynch said. “It is imperative that the judge give this wannabe cop-killer the maximum when he is sentenced for the lesser conviction of assault.”
The gory attack happened after Loor, 31, and his partner responded to a 911 call for an emotionally disturbed person in Harlem. Hale’s mother told the operator her son was a bipolar schizophrenic, off his medication and acting erratic.
“I noticed he was getting a little irate,” the cop testified of Hale at the trial in Manhattan Supreme Court. “I went to hold his left side and I just remember seeing his arm go over Merisme’s (his former partner) head and hit me right on the head. I felt like I was hit with a bat.”
The doctors who treated Loor described his survival as a “miracle.”
Loor showed jurors a massive surgical scar that runs from the top of his forehead to the back of his head and loops around to his left ear.
He said he still struggles with chronic pain, difficulty with short-term memory loss and multitasking. He has been on medical leave since.
Attorney Scott Cerbin argued that Hale, who has a documented history of mental illness, was in the midst of a severe delusion when he stabbed Loor but jurors rejected the insanity defense.
It’s a a very sad case,” the lawyer said. “Two families are devastated.”
District Attorney Cy Vance lauded Loor’s courage: “The bravery exhibited by Officer Loor….and every member of the NYPD who puts his or her life on the line each day should never be taken for granted.”
Hale has a prior felony conviction for stabbing a man in the arm and back in 2006.
So here was a cop who was attacked by a mentally disturbed youte and is now permanently disabled. If he used a stun gun or a baton or God forbid shot him there would be riots in the streets. He got a "Bronx" jury and we will be lucky if this mook will even do ten years.
1 comment:
Maybe the Jury didn't understand what "Attempted Murder" was. I've been on juries with people so stupid, I wondered how they ever dressed and tied their shoe laces.
I assume there was some racial aspect to it too.
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