Murder of Russel Timoshenko
Encyclopedia
Russel Timoshenko was a 23 year-old New York Police Department (NYPD) police officer who was shot on July 9, 2007, and died 5 days later, after pulling over a stolen BMW
automobile in New York City's
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
neighborhood. After a four day manhunt that stretched across three states, all three suspects were eventually apprehended and convicted—two of murder, and the third for weapons possession. At his widely attended funeral, Timoshenko was posthumously promoted to the rank
of Detective
. The case garnered national media attention because the weapons used were all illegally obtained handgun
s. This sparked widespread debate over gun control laws in New York City, and over the process by which firearms are traced by police departments.
on a routine patrol in Crown Heights, with Timoshenko riding as the passenger when they spotted a 2003 black BMW sports utility vehicle headed westbound on Lefferts Avenue at 2:30 am. The officers scanned the BMW's license plate on a computer in their police car. When the check came back, it indicated that the plate was assigned to a 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander
, not the BMW. Timoshenko and Yan signaled for the vehicle to pull over, and the driver complied, turning north onto Rogers Avenue, where both officers got out of their car and approached the stopped vehicle.
Before the officers arrived at the front of the car, Dexter Bostic, 34, opened fire from the passenger's seat with a .45 caliber
handgun, striking Officer Timoshenko once in the face and once in the throat. Yan had been approaching on the driver's side, while Timoshenko was coming up from the passenger's side. From the back seat of the BMW, Robert Ellis, 34, shot Yan with a 9mm handgun, striking him in the arm and chest; Yan was saved by his ballistic vest and was able to return fire. A third suspect, 29 year-old Lee Woods, was driving the BMW at the time of the shooting. After firing at least seven rounds at the officers, the three suspects fled the scene. Police later found the abandoned car on Kingston Avenue, about four blocks from where the shooting occurred.
Timoshenko was rushed to Kings County Hospital Center once medical personnel arrived at the scene. Each of the two bullets that struck Timoshenko cut across his spinal cord
, just beneath his brain, which left him unable to breathe on his own or to move his muscles. According to doctors, he had no oxygen for 15 to 20 minutes after he was shot because of his initial paralysis. The loss of oxygen left him in a coma since the shooting, so he was placed on life support machines that allowed him to breathe. Tests conducted on July 14 determined that he had no brain activity (matching the definition of legal death
in the state of New York); as a result, the doctors pronounced him dead at 4:14 p.m. and turned off the artificial respirator. He was twenty-three years old at the time of his death.
. In 1992, at the age of 19, Ellis was convicted of first-degree rape and sodomy. Woods was sent to prison in 1997, also at age 19, for illegal weapons possession and assaulting a police officer during his arrest.
If the police identified Bostic even before the shooting occurred, he would have faced a two year prison sentence for violating the terms of his parole, since he was out past his curfew. After the shooting, police discovered the BMW had been stolen from the Five Towns Mitsubishi car dealership in Inwood, Long Island where Bostic worked as a salesman. A grand theft auto
or gun possession conviction would have been Bostic's third felony
, likely resulting in a lengthy prison sentence.
, Queens, New York on July 10. He identified Bostic and Woods as his accomplices, and told police that while he knew his friends had guns, he was unaware they were going to open fire on the officers. City detectives were tipped to the whereabouts of Bostic and Ellis on the afternoon of July 11, after being contacted by man who, unaware of the suspects' fugitive
status, assisted the suspects in their escape by driving them across Long Island
, from Far Rockaway to Port Jefferson, New York
, before riding a ferry
across Long Island Sound to Bridgeport, Connecticut
. They then drove west, stopping at a supermarket in Tarrytown, New York
, where they purchased food and water, before continuing on to Pennsylvania
, according to New York City Police Commissioner
Raymond Kelly. Remnants of the same food the men purchased were found in a Pennsylvania forest, where investigators had eventually tracked the suspects.
Hundreds of NYPD officers, U.S. marshals, and Pennsylvania State Troopers
were involved in the manhunt, using helicopters and four police dogs to assist with the search. By July 11, 2007, the bounty
for information leading to the whereabouts of Bostic and Ellis reached $64,000, with the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association
proposing an additional $25,000. The driver initially dropped off Bostic and Ellis about 14 miles from where Bostic was finally arrested in Pocono Township, Pennsylvania
.
On July 11, a passing motorist spotted the fugitives by Interstate 80
and called police. The men fled when authorities arrived at the scene shortly after, but Bostic was tackled by a state trooper shortly after 6 p.m., while Ellis managed to escape. At 8 a.m. the next morning, Ellis was cornered near I-80 by two police dogs. Both men were extradited to New York from Pennsylvania on July 12. Police brought Timoshenko's handcuffs and used them to apprehend Ellis during his arrest. Police did not release the name of the driver who assisted the suspects.
, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg
delivered the eulogy, praising the fallen officer, stating, "By stopping that car, he and Officer Yan helped us capture three career criminals whose appetite for evil knew no bounds—saving who knows how many future victims, people who will never know how lucky they are." Detective Timoshenko’s name is engraved on Panel 16-West, Line 26 of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
in Washington, DC.
On June 16, 2008, Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Kelly bestowed the New York City Police Department Medal of Honor
on Timoshenko and Yan. The award is the highest law enforcement medal
given by the NYPD, which was awarded posthumously Timoshenko and accepted by his parents in a ceremony held at the NYPD headquarters in New York. New York Governor David Paterson
named the two officers Police Officers of the Year in New York State on July 24, 2009. The award, first given in 1983, recognizes a single police officer or team for "an exceptional act of valor symbolizing the service of police in New York State."
On October 6, 2009, Timoshenko's parents accepted the James S. Brady Law Enforcement Award (named after the former assistant to President Ronald Reagan
), given to their son posthumously in recognition of his commitment to public safety through his outstanding law enforcement career. The award was presented by NYPD Commissioner Kelly.
In November 2009, a local street, Durant Avenue, was renamed to Detective Russel Timoshenko Way in the detective's honor. Incidentally, following the controversial decision to rename a street to Sean Bell Way for police shooting victim Sean Bell
, some community members had recommended doing the same for
Timoshenko. However, the latter case had attracted much less media attention.
and other parties asked federal prosecutors
to take over the case so that the three suspects could face the death penalty, but the case was tried by the Brooklyn district attorney
on November 10, 2008, after federal officials refused to prosecute the case. Although the three defendants were being prosecuted simultaneously, there was a rare separate jury assigned to each of them.
On December 17, 2008, Robert Ellis was found not guilty on the charges of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder, but was found guilty on 3 charges of gun possession. On January 14, 2009, a judge sentenced Ellis to 15 years in prison on the gun possession charges. On December 19, 2008, Dexter Bostic was found guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, and 3 charges of gun possession; he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole
.
Lee Woods was tried twice, after his first trial ended in a mistrial due to a juror in her 20s falling ill. Wood's attorney, Samuel J. Karlin, told the judge his client wanted to continue with the ill juror, instead of using an alternate. At his second trial on March 16, 2009, Lee Woods was found guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, and 3 charges of gun possession. He was also sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors believed Nicole Bostic, 26 at the time, aided Lee Woods in hiding the guns found in the BMW that Timoshenko and Yan pulled over, dumping them in a nearby garage before police retrieved them; N. Bostic, however, only admitted to giving Woods a ride. She pled
guilty to helping the three men escape, and originally faced seven years in prison for her role. She later accepted a plea bargain
, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of hindering the prosecution in exchange for three years probation, thereby avoiding jail.
. Previous reports indicated that the gun dealer had previously been indicted for his illegal gun sales, and that all the weapons found in the BMW were illegally obtained. The gun shop in question is now closed, and the dealer has been stripped of his license. Because the gun was used by a person with a criminal history, and because the NYPD was denied requests to look up the seller of the gun, legislators sought to make it easier for law enforcement to carry out their investigative duties.
questioned Michael J. Sullivan, nominated to be the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
(ATF), at a Senate Judiciary Committee
hearing
looking into why the NYPD's request for information on who had sold the gun (used to kill Timoshenko) was denied. The NYPD asked the ATF for data about which dealers in Virginia supplied the most crime guns—like the one used to kill Officer Timoshenko—so they could identify the traffickers. The ATF refused that request for data, citing the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts cities' access to and use of ATF trace data). The New York Daily News ran a headline editorial in support for repealing the amendment, entitled "Congress Owes This Hero."
At the Senate hearing in Washington D.C., Schumer stated, "If this is true, it is an outrage. If it is true, it is a horrible example of gun laws gone wrong." Sullivan, then acting director of the ATF, replied to the criticism, stating, "I'm not sure why the request was turned down", and pledged to look into the matter and provide further clarification in writing.
, named "GUNS=PRISON", featured posters calling attention to the 3 ½ year prison sentence given to anyone caught carrying an illegal loaded handgun in New York. At a press conference, Mayor Bloomberg stated, "Police Officer Russell Timoshenko was just the latest victim killed by a gunman firing at close range. If the prospect of three and a half years in jail deters just one would-be killer from carrying a gun and taking the life of another police officer in another deadly confrontation, then the law and the efforts to publicize it are well worth it." NFL player Plaxico Burress
was charged with this new law due to an incident that occurred inside of a New York City nightclub. On August 20, 2009, Burress plead guilty to a gun possession charge and agreed to a two-year prison sentence.
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
automobile in New York City's
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles east-west.Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill....
neighborhood. After a four day manhunt that stretched across three states, all three suspects were eventually apprehended and convicted—two of murder, and the third for weapons possession. At his widely attended funeral, Timoshenko was posthumously promoted to the rank
Police rank
- Australia :Generally, all police forces of Australia follow this rank structure with some individual state police forces have ranks differing slightly.Insignia of rank displayed on epaulette in italics and brackets...
of Detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
. The case garnered national media attention because the weapons used were all illegally obtained handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
s. This sparked widespread debate over gun control laws in New York City, and over the process by which firearms are traced by police departments.
Murder
Timoshenko and his partner, Officer Herman Yan, had been driving in a marked 71st precinct police carPolice car
A police car is a ground vehicle used by police, to assist with their duties in patrolling and responding to incidents. Typical uses of a police car include transportation for officers to reach the scene of an incident quickly, to transport criminal suspects, or to patrol an area, while providing a...
on a routine patrol in Crown Heights, with Timoshenko riding as the passenger when they spotted a 2003 black BMW sports utility vehicle headed westbound on Lefferts Avenue at 2:30 am. The officers scanned the BMW's license plate on a computer in their police car. When the check came back, it indicated that the plate was assigned to a 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander
Mitsubishi Outlander
The Airtrek was first introduced to the Japanese market on June 20, 2001, priced from ¥1.7–2.3 million. It offered a choice of either a 4G63 2.0 L or a 4G64 2.4 L GDI, mated to a standard INVECS-II 4-speed semi-automatic transmission. Both front- and four-wheel drive were available...
, not the BMW. Timoshenko and Yan signaled for the vehicle to pull over, and the driver complied, turning north onto Rogers Avenue, where both officers got out of their car and approached the stopped vehicle.
Before the officers arrived at the front of the car, Dexter Bostic, 34, opened fire from the passenger's seat with a .45 caliber
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP , also known as the .45 Auto by C.I.P., is a cartridge designed by John Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic .45 pistol and eventually the M1911 pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911.-Design and history:The U.S...
handgun, striking Officer Timoshenko once in the face and once in the throat. Yan had been approaching on the driver's side, while Timoshenko was coming up from the passenger's side. From the back seat of the BMW, Robert Ellis, 34, shot Yan with a 9mm handgun, striking him in the arm and chest; Yan was saved by his ballistic vest and was able to return fire. A third suspect, 29 year-old Lee Woods, was driving the BMW at the time of the shooting. After firing at least seven rounds at the officers, the three suspects fled the scene. Police later found the abandoned car on Kingston Avenue, about four blocks from where the shooting occurred.
Timoshenko was rushed to Kings County Hospital Center once medical personnel arrived at the scene. Each of the two bullets that struck Timoshenko cut across his spinal cord
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
, just beneath his brain, which left him unable to breathe on his own or to move his muscles. According to doctors, he had no oxygen for 15 to 20 minutes after he was shot because of his initial paralysis. The loss of oxygen left him in a coma since the shooting, so he was placed on life support machines that allowed him to breathe. Tests conducted on July 14 determined that he had no brain activity (matching the definition of legal death
Legal death
Legal death is a legal pronouncement by a qualified person that further medical care is not appropriate and that a patient should be considered dead under the law. The specific criteria used to pronounce legal death are variable and often depend on certain circumstances in order to pronounce a...
in the state of New York); as a result, the doctors pronounced him dead at 4:14 p.m. and turned off the artificial respirator. He was twenty-three years old at the time of his death.
Motive
Media reports stated that the men committed the crime in an effort to avoid returning to prison, as all three had violent criminal records. Bostic previously served nine years in state prison for assault, robbery, and sodomy in 1990. He was sent to prison again in 2001 to serve three years for armed robbery (in which an accomplice fired shots), resulting in his second felonyFelony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
. In 1992, at the age of 19, Ellis was convicted of first-degree rape and sodomy. Woods was sent to prison in 1997, also at age 19, for illegal weapons possession and assaulting a police officer during his arrest.
If the police identified Bostic even before the shooting occurred, he would have faced a two year prison sentence for violating the terms of his parole, since he was out past his curfew. After the shooting, police discovered the BMW had been stolen from the Five Towns Mitsubishi car dealership in Inwood, Long Island where Bostic worked as a salesman. A grand theft auto
Motor vehicle theft
Motor vehicle theft is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle...
or gun possession conviction would have been Bostic's third felony
Three strikes law
Three strikes laws)"are statutes enacted by state governments in the United States which require the state courts to hand down a mandatory and extended period of incarceration to persons who have been convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions. These statutes became...
, likely resulting in a lengthy prison sentence.
Manhunt
Police apprehended Lee Woods at the home of his girlfriend and Dexter Bostic’s sister, Nicole Bostic, in Far RockawayFar Rockaway, Queens
Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens in the United States. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood starts at the Nassau County line and extends west to Beach 32nd Street. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community...
, Queens, New York on July 10. He identified Bostic and Woods as his accomplices, and told police that while he knew his friends had guns, he was unaware they were going to open fire on the officers. City detectives were tipped to the whereabouts of Bostic and Ellis on the afternoon of July 11, after being contacted by man who, unaware of the suspects' fugitive
Fugitive
A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals...
status, assisted the suspects in their escape by driving them across Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, from Far Rockaway to Port Jefferson, New York
Port Jefferson, New York
The Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson is located in the town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the 2000 United States Census, the village population was 7,837...
, before riding a ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
across Long Island Sound to Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
. They then drove west, stopping at a supermarket in Tarrytown, New York
Tarrytown, New York
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
, where they purchased food and water, before continuing on to Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, according to New York City Police Commissioner
New York City Police Commissioner
The New York City Police Commissioner is the head of the New York City Police Department, appointed by the Mayor of New York City. Governor Theodore Roosevelt, in one of his final acts before becoming Vice President of the United States in March 1901, signed legislation replacing the Police Board...
Raymond Kelly. Remnants of the same food the men purchased were found in a Pennsylvania forest, where investigators had eventually tracked the suspects.
Hundreds of NYPD officers, U.S. marshals, and Pennsylvania State Troopers
Pennsylvania State Police
The Pennsylvania State Police is the state police force of Pennsylvania, responsible for statewide law enforcement. It was founded in 1905 by order of Governor Samuel Pennypacker, in response to the private police forces used by mine and mill owners to stop worker strikes and the inability or...
were involved in the manhunt, using helicopters and four police dogs to assist with the search. By July 11, 2007, the bounty
Bounty (reward)
A bounty is a payment or reward often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or object. They are typically in the form of money...
for information leading to the whereabouts of Bostic and Ellis reached $64,000, with the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association or Policemen's Benevolent Association ' is the name of several labor unions representing police officers. One such union is the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York, which is the largest union representing members of the New York City Police...
proposing an additional $25,000. The driver initially dropped off Bostic and Ellis about 14 miles from where Bostic was finally arrested in Pocono Township, Pennsylvania
Pocono Township, Pennsylvania
Pocono Township is a township in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. Township government is located in the village of Tannersville, Pennsylvania, near the site of the popular Camelback Water Beach & Ski Area, which is located in Pocono and the adjacent Jackson Township. The top of the ski...
.
On July 11, a passing motorist spotted the fugitives by Interstate 80
Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania
The transcontinental Interstate 80 is designated across northern Pennsylvania as the Keystone Shortway, officially the Z.H. Confair Memorial Highway. This route was built mainly along a completely new alignment, not paralleling any earlier U.S. Routes, as a shortcut to the tolled Pennsylvania...
and called police. The men fled when authorities arrived at the scene shortly after, but Bostic was tackled by a state trooper shortly after 6 p.m., while Ellis managed to escape. At 8 a.m. the next morning, Ellis was cornered near I-80 by two police dogs. Both men were extradited to New York from Pennsylvania on July 12. Police brought Timoshenko's handcuffs and used them to apprehend Ellis during his arrest. Police did not release the name of the driver who assisted the suspects.
Mourning
Over 30,000 people attended Timoshenko's funeral in Flatlands, BrooklynFlatlands, Brooklyn
Flatlands is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18.One of the original five Dutch towns on Long Island , this neighborhood was originally known as Nieuw Amersfoort, after the Dutch city of Amersfoort, but the name was changed to...
, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
delivered the eulogy, praising the fallen officer, stating, "By stopping that car, he and Officer Yan helped us capture three career criminals whose appetite for evil knew no bounds—saving who knows how many future victims, people who will never know how lucky they are." Detective Timoshenko’s name is engraved on Panel 16-West, Line 26 of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., at Judiciary Square, honors the nearly 19,000 U.S. law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty throughout history. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund was established by former U.S...
in Washington, DC.
Awards and recognition
Timoshenko had served with the NYPD for one year and six months. In a ceremony held on July 27, 2007, Russel Timoshenko was posthumously promoted to the rank of Detective First Grade and his partner, Herman Yan, was promoted to Detective. Mayor Bloomberg called the promotion, "A small measure of our appreciation for the supreme sacrifice that Russel made, and to honor his life."On June 16, 2008, Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Kelly bestowed the New York City Police Department Medal of Honor
New York City Police Department Medal of Honor
The New York City Police Department Medal of Honor is the highest law enforcement medal of the New York City Police Department. The Medal of Honor is awarded for individual acts of extraordinary bravery performed in the line of duty at extreme risk and danger to life.The present NYPD Medal of...
on Timoshenko and Yan. The award is the highest law enforcement medal
Medals of the New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department presents medals to its members for meritorious service. The medals the NYPD awards are as follows :-Medal of Honor: is awarded for:...
given by the NYPD, which was awarded posthumously Timoshenko and accepted by his parents in a ceremony held at the NYPD headquarters in New York. New York Governor David Paterson
David Paterson
David Alexander Paterson is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of New York, from 2008 to 2010. During his tenure he was the first governor of New York of African American heritage and also the second legally blind governor of any U.S. state after Bob C. Riley, who was Acting...
named the two officers Police Officers of the Year in New York State on July 24, 2009. The award, first given in 1983, recognizes a single police officer or team for "an exceptional act of valor symbolizing the service of police in New York State."
On October 6, 2009, Timoshenko's parents accepted the James S. Brady Law Enforcement Award (named after the former assistant to President Ronald Reagan
James Brady
James Scott "Jim" Brady is a former Assistant to the President and White House Press Secretary under U.S. President Ronald Reagan...
), given to their son posthumously in recognition of his commitment to public safety through his outstanding law enforcement career. The award was presented by NYPD Commissioner Kelly.
In November 2009, a local street, Durant Avenue, was renamed to Detective Russel Timoshenko Way in the detective's honor. Incidentally, following the controversial decision to rename a street to Sean Bell Way for police shooting victim Sean Bell
Sean Bell shooting incident
The Sean Bell shooting incident took place in the New York City borough of Queens, New York, United States on November 25, 2006, when three men were shot a total of fifty times by a team of both plainclothes and undercover NYPD officers, killing one of the men, Sean Bell, on the morning before his...
, some community members had recommended doing the same for
Timoshenko. However, the latter case had attracted much less media attention.
Trial
All three suspects were arraigned and charged with aggravated first degree murder for the killing of Timoshenko, and other charges related to the wounding of Yan, including attempted murder and aggravated assault on a police officer. They faced life in prison if convicted of the first degree murder charges. The city's police unionPatrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York
The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York is the largest labor union representing police officers of the New York City Police Department. Several representatives of the Association sit on the board of the New York City Police Pension Fund...
and other parties asked federal prosecutors
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
to take over the case so that the three suspects could face the death penalty, but the case was tried by the Brooklyn district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
on November 10, 2008, after federal officials refused to prosecute the case. Although the three defendants were being prosecuted simultaneously, there was a rare separate jury assigned to each of them.
On December 17, 2008, Robert Ellis was found not guilty on the charges of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder, but was found guilty on 3 charges of gun possession. On January 14, 2009, a judge sentenced Ellis to 15 years in prison on the gun possession charges. On December 19, 2008, Dexter Bostic was found guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, and 3 charges of gun possession; he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
.
Lee Woods was tried twice, after his first trial ended in a mistrial due to a juror in her 20s falling ill. Wood's attorney, Samuel J. Karlin, told the judge his client wanted to continue with the ill juror, instead of using an alternate. At his second trial on March 16, 2009, Lee Woods was found guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, and 3 charges of gun possession. He was also sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors believed Nicole Bostic, 26 at the time, aided Lee Woods in hiding the guns found in the BMW that Timoshenko and Yan pulled over, dumping them in a nearby garage before police retrieved them; N. Bostic, however, only admitted to giving Woods a ride. She pled
Plea
In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a civil or criminal case under common law using the adversary system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a criminal defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response to a criminal charge, whether that...
guilty to helping the three men escape, and originally faced seven years in prison for her role. She later accepted a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of hindering the prosecution in exchange for three years probation, thereby avoiding jail.
Gun legislation
Several press accounts reported that Timoshenko was shot by an unlicensed gun that came from VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. Previous reports indicated that the gun dealer had previously been indicted for his illegal gun sales, and that all the weapons found in the BMW were illegally obtained. The gun shop in question is now closed, and the dealer has been stripped of his license. Because the gun was used by a person with a criminal history, and because the NYPD was denied requests to look up the seller of the gun, legislators sought to make it easier for law enforcement to carry out their investigative duties.
Senate hearings
In September 2007, Senator Charles SchumerCharles Schumer
Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a...
questioned Michael J. Sullivan, nominated to be the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a federal law enforcement organization within the United States Department of Justice...
(ATF), at a Senate Judiciary Committee
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary is a standing committee of the United States Senate, of the United States Congress. The Judiciary Committee, with 18 members, is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges nominated by the...
hearing
Hearing (law)
In law, a hearing is a proceeding before a court or other decision-making body or officer, such as a government agency.A hearing is generally distinguished from a trial in that it is usually shorter and often less formal...
looking into why the NYPD's request for information on who had sold the gun (used to kill Timoshenko) was denied. The NYPD asked the ATF for data about which dealers in Virginia supplied the most crime guns—like the one used to kill Officer Timoshenko—so they could identify the traffickers. The ATF refused that request for data, citing the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts cities' access to and use of ATF trace data). The New York Daily News ran a headline editorial in support for repealing the amendment, entitled "Congress Owes This Hero."
At the Senate hearing in Washington D.C., Schumer stated, "If this is true, it is an outrage. If it is true, it is a horrible example of gun laws gone wrong." Sullivan, then acting director of the ATF, replied to the criticism, stating, "I'm not sure why the request was turned down", and pledged to look into the matter and provide further clarification in writing.
New gun laws for New York City
The complications regarding the illegal firearms used in Timoshenko's murder inspired new laws passed in New York City, which authorized new penalties, touted as "part of the toughest illegal gun possession law in the country." A public awareness campaignAdvertising campaign
An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication...
, named "GUNS=PRISON", featured posters calling attention to the 3 ½ year prison sentence given to anyone caught carrying an illegal loaded handgun in New York. At a press conference, Mayor Bloomberg stated, "Police Officer Russell Timoshenko was just the latest victim killed by a gunman firing at close range. If the prospect of three and a half years in jail deters just one would-be killer from carrying a gun and taking the life of another police officer in another deadly confrontation, then the law and the efforts to publicize it are well worth it." NFL player Plaxico Burress
Plaxico Burress
Plaxico Antonio Burress is an American football wide receiver who currently plays for the New York Jets of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers eighth overall in the 2000 NFL Draft...
was charged with this new law due to an incident that occurred inside of a New York City nightclub. On August 20, 2009, Burress plead guilty to a gun possession charge and agreed to a two-year prison sentence.
See also
- The Newhall massacre (or Newhall Incident) April 6, 1970 is a similar incident of a deadly traffic stop wherein 4 police offers were killed by two armed felons.Newhall MassacreThe Newhall massacre or Newhall Incident was a shootout between two heavily armed criminals and officers of the California Highway Patrol in the Newhall unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, California on April 6, 1970...