CULPEPER, Va. -- A former Culpeper police officer faces up to 25 years in prison for killing local housewife Patricia Ann Cook, 54, nearly a year ago.
A jury Tuesday found Daniel Harmon-Wright, 33, guilty of voluntary manslaughter, maliciously shooting into an occupied vehicle and maliciously shooting into an occupied vehicle resulting in death following about seven hours of deliberation Monday and Tuesday.
"I don't see this as a categorical statement with respect to law enforcement," said special prosecutor Jim Fisher, Fauquier County commonwealth's attorney, in a news conference following the verdict. "I think this was a unique situation with a unique defendant who stepped out of line in a very aggressive fashion and broke the rules so the system has held him accountable."
A dramatic silence filled the courtroom in Culpeper County Circuit Court when word came in around 4:15 p.m. that a verdict had been reached. Harmon-Wright, prior to taking his seat beside attorney Daniel Hawes, kissed his wife on the mouth. The mother of his baby son attended all six days of the trial, along with at least nine other family members.
Harmon-Wright, a former U.S. Marine who served a tour in Iraq, covered his face with his hands as the verdict was read, and one female juror wiped away tears.
Cook's brother, John Weigler, of New Jersey, said the family was pleased with the verdict. Weigler, too, attended every day of the trial involving the death of his older sister, who was shot in the back of the head and the spine following an altercation with Harmon-Wright on Feb. 9 that began in the parking lot of a Catholic school in Culpeper.
"It vindicates her," Weigler said of the guilty verdict. "What happened on that day should not have happened. There were a lot of things that were done incorrectly. I am just pleased with the verdict and I'd like to move on from here. It's been pretty horrible. We have been without Pat for 11 months now."
He reached out to the defendant's side in saying he hoped the results of the trial would not have any negative impact on Harmon-Wright's wife or son.
"I hope churches in the area minister to them and it's going to be difficult -- it's been difficult for us," Weigler said.
Harmon-Wright was on duty the day he fired his department-issued Glock seven times at Cook, who had parked her Jeep in the school parking lot for unknown reasons. The school called police for report of a suspicious person and Harmon-Wright responded, having just made a transaction at the gun shop up the street.
Harmon-Wright pleaded not guilty and claimed self-defense and defense of the public at trial.
Fisher said Tuesday the evidence did not support self-defense.
"I felt like it was unjustified from the very beginning; the only question was what grade of homicide was it, so I am going to ask the court for a significant penalty that reinforces the message that this was wrong," Fisher said. "You heard the defendant at the end of his testimony say he would do the exact same thing over again, so I feel it would be important to reinforce the message that that's the wrong attitude."
Fisher said he would ponder an appropriate sentencing overnight before the jury reconvenes this afternoon to make its recommendation on punishment.
A civil suit against Harmon-Wright is pending with the family seeking $5.35 million in damages. The suit could be expanded to include the current and past police chiefs for allegedly negligently hiring Harmon-Wright in August 2006 in spite of objections from command staff related to alcohol abuse.
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