Cop Shooting Suspects Not Eligible For Death Penalty
July 25, 2007
The three men accused of killing NYPD Officer Russel Timoshenko and injuring his partner earlier this month pleaded not guilty during their arraignment Wednesday in Brooklyn State Supreme Court.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, along with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Chief of Detectives George Brown, explained the details of the 21-count indictment handed up Monday afternoon by a grand jury against Dexter Bostic, Robert Ellis, and Lee Woods.
Prosecutors released surveillance video showing the moments just before the shooting. They say the three men seen in the green BMW SUV that Timoshenko and Officer Herman Yan pulled over early Monday, July 9th. Bostic and Ellis allegedly opened fire on Timoshenko and Yan.
Yan was hit in the arm and in the chest. He was saved by his bullet-proof vest. Officer Timoshenko was shot in the neck and face. He died from his injuries at a Brooklyn hospital after five days on life support.
“Police Officer Timoshenko was the 713th New York City police officer killed in the line of duty and the sacrifice of Officer Timoshenko, and his fellow officers, can be cast in almost biblical proportions,” said Kelly. “They died so that others can live safely.”
The three men have been charged with first degree murder and attempted murder, among other charges.
Each pleaded not guilty to the charges, but prosecutors say police have amassed a mountain of forensic evidence linking the three to the crime.
"I've been in this business a very, very long time and I have never seen the kind of forensic investigation that was carried on by these police officers,” said Hynes.
Prosecutors say there is evidence against all three men that includes fingerprints, ballistic matches, surveillance video, and statements made by the defendants themselves. Among the evidence: Bostic's fingerprint on the front passenger side door of the car and Ellis's fingerprint on the rear passenger-side door. Police found three guns in an abandoned garage near where they say the men ditched the BMW. The guns match the bullets that hit the two officers.
“Inside the bag where the guns were found, police also recovered their Popeye's Chicken box,” said Hynes. “A fingerprint was lifted from the box and identified as Lee Woods' fingerprint.”
But attorneys for Bostic and Woods say that evidence doesn't necessarily incriminate their clients.
"The fingerprint only establishes that my client at some point either touched the car or was in the car. He worked at the dealership, selling cars,” said Dexter Bostic’s attorney Edward Wilford. “There's no proof based on the fingerprint that he was in the car at the time that the shots were fired."
"My client is not the triggerman, that's a fact I'm going to want to pound on,” said Lee Woods’ attorney Patrick Michael Megaro. “I think there's going to be other evidence that comes to light that suggests that my client did not have knowledge or intent as the other two did."
All three men will not be tried in a federal court room, therefore they cannot face the death penalty.
“This case is in contrast to the Richmond County case where two young cops were executed by gun dealers who were in the course and in the furtherance of interstate commerce; that is the federal connection,” said Hynes. “There is no such federal connection in this case.”
All three were ordered held without bail. Their next court appearance is scheduled for November 28th.
If all three are convicted of the most serious crime, they could spend the rest of their lives behind bars without the possibility of parole.
In the wake of the shooting, some lawmakers are looking to make traffic stops safer.
Councilman Peter Vallone and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said Wednesday that they plan to introduce legislation that would crack down on tinted windows. Under the proposal, mechanics would have to make sure windows are legally tinted during yearly state inspections.
They say police work is dangerous enough without having to guess if someone is reaching for a gun during a traffic stop.
"Aside from the dangerous aspect of this, car stops very often involve drugs or other illegal paraphernalia, and when that happens the first thing somebody is doing in that car is trying to hide it. Police need to see that,” said Vallone.
The lawmakers are also calling for the state law to require the back window of a vehicle to be untinted. Right now the law only applies to the windshield, and the driver and front passenger windows.