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Lawyers for the ex-NYPD cop who fatally tossed a picnic cooler at a drug suspect are mounting a longshot bid to free him as he appeals of his manslaughter conviction — and languishes in isolation behind bars.
Former police Sgt. and married dad of three Erik Duran, 38, is currently in protective custody away from other inmates on Rikers Island after he was sentenced Thursday to up to nine years in prison for the 2023 death of Eric Duprey, law-enforcement sources told The Post on Friday.
Duran has access to a television, a small outdoor yard and shower — but little else, including contact with other inmates for his own safety, according to sources.
Food is being brought to him at the dangerous jail. He is expected to be transferred at some point to a state prison, where he will serve his term of three to nine years — a sentence that experts and cops have ripped as “extreme and damaging” to law enforcement.
But Duran’s legal team is trying to convince an appellate court to release the convicted cop from custody as the former officer fights to have his conviction overturned in the controversial case.
“We’re going to be arguing that when all facts are heard, you will see that the judge’s decision was an error and against the weight of the evidence,” one of his lawyers, Arthur Aidala, told The Post of the motion filed Friday.
Duran — who grew up in a violent Bronx neighborhood before becoming a “model’’ cop — threw the cooler at Duprey as the suspect fled on a scooter during an undercover drug sting, causing him to fall and fatally hit his head.
The former cop was slapped with the stiff prison sentence by Bronx Judge Guy Mitchell after he was found guilty of manslaughter at a bench trial in February.
Duran was hauled away immediately after Thursday’s hearing, sparking his lawyers’ desperate attempt to convince a higher court to allow him to be with his wife and kids as they work to get the Appellate Division First Department to review his case.
Barry Kamins, another lawyer for Duran, said the appeals court can choose to free the ex-cop on bail pending the appeal if it’s believed he has a legitimate gripe with Judge Mitchell’s decision.
But former Manhattan prosecutor-turned-defense lawyer Mark Bederow said the chances Duran is let out during the appeal process are “probably not good.”
The cop’s legal team needs to show the appeals court that there is a “legitimate, credible chance” that Duran’s conviction would be scrapped on appeal — and that it’s harder to overturn a guilty verdict when a judge – and not a jury – makes the decision.
“It’s gonna be hard, but I guess you’ll see when the motion is filed, because they are going to have to lay out what they think the credible basis for appeal is to have any shot,” Bederow told The Post.
“It’s not going to be, ‘He’s a police officer, feel sorry for him,’ ” the legal eagle said.
“That’s not going to work.”
English (US)