A Brooklyn judge postponed the sentencing of former NYPD officer Peter Liang in the 2014 shooting death of unarmed Akai Gurley, which was set for Thursday, in order to continue a hearing on whether a juror who convicted the ex-cop “lied” his way onto the case.
Michael Vargas, who was juror No. 9 on the panel that found Liang guilty of manslaughter in the accidental shooting, was barraged with questions about his seeming flip-flop on the jury selection question of whether he had any relatives who had been convicted of a crime.
“You lied during voir dire,” Liang’s defense attorney Paul Shechtman declared, as Vargas sat on the witness stand, looking genial. “That’s your opinion,” Vargas responded casually.
“The question is, did you lie?” Brooklyn Supreme Justice Danny Chun interjected. “I don’t believe I did,” the former juror replied.
Vargas took the stand Wednesday to explain statements he’d made in March, when he blabbed to a publication about his estranged father doing time for manslaughter following DA Ken Thompson’s public recommendation that Chun hand the ex-cop a no-jail sentence
The revelation was a direct contradiction to statements he made under oath during jury selection.
Chun had asked the prospective juror in January if anyone “close to him” had been “accused,” of a crime.
The 62-year-old Brooklynite–initially evasive– eventually answered “no.”
It was later revealed that while Vargas was being probed as a possible juror on another case hours earlier that same day, he divulged that his father had done time for accidentally shooting a friend.
Shechtman focused his questioning not only on Vargas’s incongruous statements to two different judges about his father’s time spent in prison for manslaughter, but also on a series of Facebook posts in which Vargas seemed to espouse anti-cop rhetoric.
“Every time the police shoot an unarmed person they bring the country closer to a revolution,”’ said one posting, which the attorney read aloud for the court.
“Do you think you should have told the judge that that was your view?” Shechtman asked.
“I don’t think that’s relevant to that case,” Vargas responded.
“You didn’t think it was relevant to tell the judge that?” Chun asked incredulously.
“I don’t remember what I posted two years ago,” the former juror responded, shrugging.
Vargas remained cagey during the back and forth, during which it was disclosed that the seven years his father Noberto spent in jail were for accidentally shooting his fiancee, not a “friend,” as has been previously reported.
The former juror also learned that his older brother, Noberto Jr. had been convicted twice since moving to California–something he claimed to have had not knowledge of until Wednesday, when Shechtman bluntly asked him about it.
Sporting the same leather vest he’d worn during jury selection, Vargas continually echoed statements he’s made to various media outlets since the scandal broke.
“I didn’t know my father,” the 62-year-old said. “I don’t know the particulars.”
When asked about the obvious contradictions in his statements to Judge Chun and Judge Alan Marrus, his responses were cryptic.
“When you said ‘no, no,’ you knew your father had been convicted of manslaughter for an accidental shooting,” Shechtman inquired.
“I do not know the details,” Vargas said. “I do not know for a fact, any details.”
“Even today?” the attorney asked, his voice filled with disbelief.
“I do not know that for a fact, even today,” Vargas responded.
Shechtman tried again, asking “the reason you said ‘no,’ was that you didn’t know, at the time, that your father had been accused of a crime?”
“I don’t remember saying it, I remember saying something like that. It doesn’t mean that’s what I said,’ Vargas countered.
“I don’t think it was his best day,” Shechtman said after Vargas jumped into a jeep and screeched off after court.
“He dodged questions, and didn’t want to answer them,” the lawyer said, flanked by Liang’s trial attorney Robert E. Brown. “I think he got onto this jury to do justice, as he saw it.”
“He was like a 5 year old kid who got caught stealing candy,” added Karlin Chan, a friend of Liang’s and executive director of Chinese Action Network. “He’s a cop hater.”
Liang will now be sentenced Next Tuesday, April 19. He faces up to 15 years in prison, but Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson has recommended he serve no jail
Lawyers from both sides will continue to question Vargas Thursday afternoon, Liang’s original sentencing date.
A spokeswoman for Gurley family says they will still hold a protest outside the downtown Brooklyn Courthouse Thursday morning.