A Philadelphia judge has handed down a lenient sentence after a former Philadelphia police officer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a man in 2023.
The former cop, Mark Dial, was sentenced to 9-and-a-half months to two years in prison in the killing of 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, a sentence far less than state guidelines mandate for the crime, which is 3-and-a-half to seven years behind bars. The assistant district attorney had asked for a five-to-10-year sentence.
Since the 29-year-old Dial has already served almost 10 months in jail, he was paroled immediately on Thursday and is now a free man. Both the prosecutor and Irizarry’s family said justice was not served in this case.
The Inquirer reported that District Attorney Larry Krasner said he was disheartened by the permissive sentence. “I am deeply disappointed with a verdict that I think makes people lose faith in the criminal justice system.”…