Lamont Pride was convicted this month of second-degree murder in the death of Officer Peter Figoski; he was acquitted of a more serious murder charge.
The courtroom was packed with Figoski's family and fellow officers. The assembled also included relatives of other officers lost in the line of duty: the father and sister of Alain Schaberger, who was shoved to his death while answering a domestic violence call in 2011, and the mother of Russel Timoshenko, who was shot during a 2007 traffic stop.
"When our father died, a part of us died, too," said 15-year-old Corinne Figowski, who spoke along with her three sisters.
"Our dad was our world, our everything," she said. "Nothing will ever be the same again. We lay in bed, in the dark, at night thinking about all the ways things have changed."
Her sister, Caitlyn, 19, said they'll miss being walked down the aisle by him, "something every father and every daughter dream of."
Mary Ann Figoski described her son as full of life, always smiling and happy-go-lucky - a wonderful father who loved his daughters and looked forward to weddings and grandchildren.
"But now, that won't happen," she said. "And we who had loved him daily are left with so many what-ifs and broken hearts," she said.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Alan Marrus thanked the slain officer's daughters for their impact statements.
"I speak as a father, not as a judge," Marrus told Figoski's daughters. "Your father would be very proud of you today."
Pride said nothing about the Figoski family but apologized to his own family and thanked his brothers for their support. "As long as I got you in my corner, we're gonna stand tall," he said.
Brooklyn prosecutors said Pride and four others plotted to rob a small-time drug dealer on Dec. 12, 2011. A second suspect, Michael Velez, accused of driving the getaway car, was acquitted of all charges.
Pride did not deny that he fired a shot from a semi-automatic pistol that killed Figoski, who was responding to the scene. But he claimed he didn't mean to do it - the gun just went off when he fell. Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Taub had sought to show that Pride intentionally fired at the officer because he was cornered at the only exit and had no other way out. Jurors, after deliberating about 10 hours, found him not guilty of intentionally killing the 22-year veteran officer.
The prosecution's star witness was one of the suspects, Ariel Tejada, who testified that Velez knew what was happening and wanted in on the crime. But he didn't say whether he saw Pride fire.
The men broke into a shabby basement apartment in a building that belonged to the uncle of suspected mastermind Nelson Morales. But the uncle didn't know what was happening and called 911 when he heard a commotion downstairs. Officers arrived and surprised the robbers, who pretended to be victims until they were later arrested, prosecutors said. Morales and a fourth suspect, Kevin Santos, are awaiting trial.
Figoski was posthumously promoted to detective.
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