A verdict in the murder trial of the New York police officer accused of fatally shooting a Derry immigrant could be handed down next week.
Mr Richard Molloy, with 13 years service in the police, is accused of shooting Mr Hessy Phelan in the head three years ago in a Bronx apartment. A state supreme court judge is expected to hand down a verdict next Tuesday. Mr Molloy chose to be tried by a judge rather than by a jury.
Prosecutors alleged Mr Molloy forced the heavily-inebriated Mr Phelan out of a bar before shooting him in the left eye as he lay on a couch in the apartment. A pattern of past drunken gunplay illustrated how Mr Molloy could have fired the fatal shot, they said. Mr Molloy said Mr Phelan slipped his police service revolver out of its holster and shot himself in the head in an apparent suicide.
In his closing statement this week, Mr Molloy's attorney, Mr George Vallario jnr, said prosecutors had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges of second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Mr Vallario said none of the allegations proved Mr Molloy had placed a revolver in the orbit of another man's eye and fired it. "Can we connect the dots in any of these incidents and say Richie must be involved in Hessy's death?" he asked.
Mr Vallario said even Mr Phelan's friends admitted he had been depressed and could have killed himself. He had served 10 years in the Maze for INLA-related offences, but in the Bronx, where he worked as a painter, he was not accorded the respect he deserved, he said. The scenario was little more than fabrication, Assistant District Attorney Mr Brian Sullivan said. "Richard Molloy is a man whose credibility is seriously questioned."