Tomorrow’s highly anticipating sentencing of former New York Police Officer Peter Liang for the death of Akai Gurley has been postponed while the judge decides whether to declare a mistrial, reports DNAinfo.
Juror Michael Vargas, 62, failed to mention during jury questioning his dad served prison time for accidentally killing someone.
Vargas was questioned today by Liang’s attorney Paul Shectman in the New York courtroom of Judge Danny Chun.
The juror said he was estranged from his father, didn’t really have a relationship with him and didn’t know for certain that he served time.
Vargas countered with a Facebook post from Vargas in January of a picture of him as a child with his father.
Vargas is scheduled to be cross examined tomorrow.
Sentencing is set for April 19.
(AsAmNews is an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. You can show your support by liking our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/asamnews, following us on Twitter and sharing our stories.)
RE: Sentencing postponed for Peter Liang. Hearing for mistrial underway. You are Blaming a man who wanted to do his civic duty. He didn’t know which case he was going to serve on that day. You make him seem like a cop hater… I know him him for decades and I can tell you he does NOT hate cops.. he hates to read about people dying in police custody, he also post some supportive stuff on facebook about police and law enforcement. . He has police in his family, He has never been in trouble in his life… He was asked about his family.. that is a tricky question once you know he was left on the steps of a Brooklyn orphanage and was raised by the church in a series of Homes. He had No mother or father in his life.. NO One came to visit him in all those years in the foster system. He fought harder then most to get on his feet and he worked as a carpenter in a hospital for over 25 years. when Michael was a kid he wanted to play drums.. he made his first drums out of empty boxes and taught himself how to play. He went on to play in bands that toured NY an Florida. He built the PA system for that band out of wood he bought and then read up on what had to be done. You are looking to ruin a mans life for what? there were 12 jurors.. they all agreed on the verdict.. he had one vote and some lawyer is trying to get a second chance at getting Officer Liang off.. Too bad that lawyer didn’t do his job the first time… Like you stated, Michael was excused from another Jury that day. did that lawyer bother to ask why he got excused? No.. he didn’t.. But Now they want to drag Mr. Vargas through the mud, for what? There is more then enough room to blame people for that tragic night. 2 rookie cops on a vertical patrol alone unsupervised.The training that they had… bad lighting.. We all should respect the work of our police.. Each day when they get up to go to work, they might not be coming home. Michael knows this.. I know this and you know this. He was just one of 12.. he wasn’t the foreman or any type of leader in the jury room. If you want to try and get this officer off fine.. But not by ruining someones life who doesn’t deserve this nightmare. You want to think your doing good by smearing a man who has done nothing wrong. I can give you a thousand names that would tell you Michael Vargas is a Good man.. not a hater, He was just a man doing his civic duty..The lawyers for officer liang are the ones who are making a crime.