New York Police Officer Hugh Barry Found Not Guilty For Killing Deborah Danner

Feb 15

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This is becoming the norm for America.  The dead cannot testify, and defendants testify what he or she thought the deceased was going to do that caused them to use discretion to take human life.

Hugh Barry, 32-years old, had been charged with murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the killing of 66-year old Deborah Danner who was in a mental health crisis.

I followed the trial at this post.

Deborah Danner

Barry opted for a bench trial.  There was no jury and the judge was the only person hearing evidence and deciding the case. Justice Robert A. Neary of State Supreme Court presided over the trial.

Prosecutors argued that Barry created the conditions that placed him within a distance of Deborah Danner that he claimed caused him to feel threatened when Deborah picked up a baseball bat.  There were witnesses at trial that testified not seeing Deborah swing the bat at Barry as he claimed.  There were also witnesses that testified that they were following their training to calm Deborah down when Barry came into the apartment, walked past them, and entered Deborah’s bedroom.

Barry testified that he could not back away from Deborah because of other officers being too close behind him.

According to the New York Times;

“Sergeant Barry conceded that he had not followed the department’s guidelines for dealing with the mentally ill. Since the killing of Ms. Bumpurs, officers have been trained to isolate and contain emotionally disturbed people, taking time and continuing to talk to them in an effort to persuade them to comply.”

Barry’s defense attorney argued that had Deborah hit Barry on the head with the bat, it could have broken his skull. This what-if apparently resulted in Justice Neary acquitting Barry on all charges.

The New York Times reports

Given that the sergeant had raised a self-defense claim, Justice Neary said that the prosecution had the burden of proving that he was “not justified in the use of deadly physical force.”

“The prosecution’s evidence has failed to meet that burden of proof,” he said.

 

Posted on 02/15/2018, in Cases, Deborah Danner, Trial Videos and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 17 Comments.

  1. yahtzeebutterfly | 02/15/2018 at 3:30 pm

    My heart is crying for Deborah. So sad. She should be alive today.

    Liked by 3 people

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  2. yahtzeebutterfly | 02/15/2018 at 3:39 pm

    Wallace Cook Jr., first cousin to Deborah’s mother, speaks the TRUTH. Everyone needs to listen to him in that video while remember that he is 75 and a former police officer.

    Thanks for posting that video, Xena.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
  3. ladylove1120 | 02/15/2018 at 4:10 pm

    My heart is broken 💔💔💔💔, I can do nothing but cry for her and her family. Rest Easy Queen Danner. I’m angry 😡

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
  4. davidprosser | 02/15/2018 at 5:20 pm

    A disgusting verdict. Justice has not been served.
    Hugs

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
    • crustyolemothman | 02/15/2018 at 5:41 pm

      davidprosser, There are three level’s of justice in this nation! You have the rich upperclass white style of justice, you have the white trash justice, and then you have justice for the black members of our society.. Will it ever change? I had hoped it would, but I don’t think it will in the few years that I have left! That does not mean that I will sit idly by and just let it happen, but I fear anything I can do will have little effect on the problem…

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply
  5. crustyolemothman | 02/15/2018 at 5:43 pm

    Off topic, but still relevant! Can anyone really tell me that if the school shooter in Florida had been black that he would be under arrest?

    Liked by 3 people

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    • ladylove1120 | 02/15/2018 at 8:49 pm

      Right, we all know they would have shot him down quick if he was black. What a sad world we live in when the color of your skin determines whether you live or die 😭😭😭😭

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
    • Xena | 02/15/2018 at 10:39 pm

      Mothman,
      Actually, it’s not off topic. I just met a blogger who posted about having “the talk” with her children because of mass school shootings. She should talk with Black parents who have had “the talk” with their children.

      To answer your question, that depends on where the Sheriff and cops were in sweeping the building. If they thought there were bombs they should know about, and/or accomplices, and/or if he had hidden the gun where it might be found by a kid, they would have probably shot the perp in a leg. Truly, I believe they would have shot him had he been Black because that is a general “how dare you” response in retribution or not following instructions in a blink of the eye.

      Liked by 2 people

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      • ladylove1120 | 02/15/2018 at 11:07 pm

        Xena you nailed it, I can’t believe that it’s 2018 and we still have all these mass killings. It’s like oh you make me mad and I’m gonna kill who ever didn’t make me mad, we have kids lying down in school making a swastika symbol with their bodies, we have students putting signs above a water fountain saying colors, and whites! Were did it all go wrong at???

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        • Xena | 02/16/2018 at 3:40 am

          Ladylove,
          You asked “Where did it all go wrong at???” The American Civil War. Although Mothman commented to David Prosser, this comment is intended to also address his comment.

          Confederate states are still angry about losing the war. In the 1960’s as the federal government threw some bones to Blacks and some states threw a few bones to Black and White women for government contracts, the old South thought things would be quiet. The KKK had already tested out intimidation that either kept Blacks in check, or destroyed their property, and even took their lives. What was needed was a judicial system that did the same without wearing sheets and hoods. They developed a double-standard justice system for Blacks who did not know their place.

          What we see now with people coming out of the closets with the behavior that you note, is another form of intimidation intended to force Blacks into submission due to fear of violence.

          As it pertains to mass killings, if we add all of the Black lives taken by members of law enforcement, they too add up to mass killings, only they are killed under color and claim of official right with “I thought he was going for a gun” being a major justification. So, we come back full circle to the subject of guns and gun control.

          The NRA was founded in 1871. Wikipedia has good information on how it was formed, including the phrase “Anglo-American”.

          The NRA started in New York, and the same year it began organizing was the year of the “Orange riots” in New York. That was a conflict between Irish Protestants and Catholics. While some say that the NRA was motivated by a Union Army General estimating how many shots it too Union soldiers to kill one Confederate soldier and the NRA was intended to train soldiers to shoot better, others say that it was to train the New York militia to shoot better; BECAUSE, during the Orange Riots, militia and cops were killed.

          So, what do we do with the NRA who, through the decades, has morphed its purposes while hiding its bigoted roots from the general public? Those who are crying the loudest now against the NRA because they are burying their children, have not examined history to know that the NRA was created and established to train state militias now called National Guards, and police departments. Maybe if something had been done then to prevent the killing of innocent, unarmed Blacks, we would not have the mess we are in now with the NRA having political influence.

          Liked by 1 person

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  6. conartistocracy | 03/13/2018 at 5:36 am

    Have I got this straight? A young, I suppose fit, male police officer shot an old lady with mental problems because he was afraid of what she was going to do with a baseball bat when as a stranger he came into her bedroom?

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    Reply
    • Xena | 03/13/2018 at 2:37 pm

      Yes. You got it straight. Hugh Barry walked past those already present who were calming Deborah down. He created the conditions which he then claimed caused him to fear for his life.

      Like

      Reply

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