Cop killer Lamont Pride gets maximum sentence - Los Angeles Local News, Weather, and Traffic

A judge has sentenced cop killer Lamont Pride to to 45 years to life in prison, the maximum allowable sentence on a conviction of second-degree murder, the AP reported.

A jury this month aquitted Pride of the more serious charge of aggravated first-degree murder in the shooting death of Police Officer Peter Figoski. That charge would have landed Pride in prison for life without chance of parole.

Pride, 28, shot Figoski, 47, in the face at point-blank range during a botched robbery in December 2011.

Pride's lawyer successfully argues that his client didn't intend to kill Figoski. Pride said in a videtaped statement that he kept his finger on the trigger as he emerged from the building where he and several others had tried to rob a drug dealer. He said that he tripped on the stairs, fell to the ground, and the gun went off, killing Figoski.

The jury apparently bought it. 

Figoski's family and his fellow officers were outraged by the jury's decision.

His four daughters spoke in court Thursday.

"Lamont Pride robbed my sisters and I of having that trusted rock and confidant that we were so fortunate to have in our father," said Caitlyn Figoski, 19, the officer's eldest daughter. "He could have chosen to slip by our father on the stairs of that basement and run away, or he could have chosen to drop the gun and surrender to police. Instead he chose to keep the gun in his hand, aim the gun at my dad's face, and pull the trigger. A father and daughter's bond is something extremely special and will never be broken, but now we must continue to mourn his loss for the rest of our lives."

Corinne Figoski, 15, told the courtroom: "When our father died, a part of us died, too."

The NYPD porthumously promoted Figoski to detective.