Convicted cop killer Demetrius Blackwell was sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole Tuesday in the 2015 slaying of New York police Officer Brian Moore.
“Mr. Blackwell, you are nothing but a coward,” Queens County Criminal Court Judge Gregory Lasak said before handing down the stiffest penalty allowed by state law. “What did you do when you shot the officer? You ran like a coward.”
Lasak called Blackwell, 37, “a cold, calculating killer.”
“You killed him for nothing at all.”
From the bench, with the bailiff nearby, Lasak said, “Tell the defendant he has a right to appeal and to get his smirky face out of this courtroom.”
Moore’s father, retired NYPD Sgt. Raymond Moore, said after the sentencing that Blackwell deserves an even stiffer punishment.
“If New York State had the death penalty, I’d like to see this animal put down once and for all,” he said.
Scores of New York police officers and their supporters jammed into Queens County Criminal Court for the sentencing of Blackwell, who was found guilty of first-degree murder and other charges last month in the slaying of Moore, a resident of Plainedge.
Before the sentencing, Calvin Hunt, 56, a chef from Harlem, installed a makeshift memorial to Moore on a bench outside the courtroom.
Hunt brought his 10-year-old son, Cameron, to the courtroom because he wanted to teach the boy to respect police.