The judge who convicted and controversially sentenced ex-NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran to prison left the former cop’s legal team blindsided by what one of the attorneys dubbed his “obvious anti-cop bias” Friday.
Veteran trial attorney Andrew Quinn, in an interview with The Post, said Duran’s lawyers had vetted Bronx Supreme Court Justice Guy Mitchell and trusted him for his years as a narcotics prosecutor — leaving them “shocked” by his verdict.
“When we vetted Judge Mitchell [before trial], we saw that he had a narcotics background, which we believed would have led him to have the insight to understand the dangers inherent in narcotics enforcement,” Quinn said.
Former NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran is sentenced in Bronx Court Thursday. Matthew McDermott for NY Post
“Therefore, we felt comfortable trying the case in front of him.”
Quinn, who provides legal counsel for the Sergeants Benevolent Association union, ripped Mitchell for slamming his client with 3-to-9 years in prison Thursday for tossing a picnic cooler at a fleeing drug suspect during a 2023 undercover operation — calling the decision “repugnant.”
Duran, a 38-year-old dad of three, opted to have a non-jury trial after he was indicted on charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault in the case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James’ Office.
But after the three-week proceedings, Mitchell found the 13-year veteran of the force guilty of second-degree manslaughter — ruling he recklessly caused 30-year-old Eric Duprey’s death when he chucked the red cooler at him on Aug. 23, 2023 in Kingsbridge Heights.
Duprey, a dad of two and delivery driver with a criminal record, had been fleeing arrest on a motorized scooter after selling $20 of crack cocaine to an undercover officer when the flying cooler hit him, causing him to lose control, crash into a parked car and crack his head on the pavement.
The sentencing guidelines called for anywhere from probation without jail time to 15 years behind bars.
Quinn said his client opted to let the judge, not a jury, determine his fate to give him a better chance at beating the rap.
“The understanding among the police community is you don’t trust a Bronx jury with a cop’s fate,” Quinn said, adding, “I don’t think that’s true anymore, can’t trust the judge either anymore.”
The cooler thrown by the cop. Tomas E. Gaston .. for NY Post
Mitchell was a prosecutor across every level of government before he was first tapped to be a judge in 2015 by Mayor Bill de Blasio and then re-appointed in 2022 by Mayor Eric Adams.
One of his jobs was as chief of the criminal division for the US Virgin Islands Department of Justice, where he managed a staff of prosecutors and homed in on major crimes, including narcotics, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He coordinated with the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas” program, according to a 2015 Amsterdam News article about his appointment to the bench. He was also a prosecutor for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office and worked for the state Attorney General’s Office.
Quinn argued the evidence indicated that Duran’s actions were justified, stating he was trying to save the lives of other officers in the path of Duprey’s moped.
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He also called out Mitchell for his statement at sentencing that the punishment would serve as a “general deterrent” to other police officers, charging that it revealed a slant against law enforcement.
“What we believe was revealed during his comments at sentencing was a fundamental misunderstanding of what police officers are expected to do and an obvious anti-police bias,” Quinn told The Post.
“But we didn’t see that until sentencing yesterday.”
NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran is sentenced in Queens Court Thursday, April 9, 2026. Matthew McDermott for NY Post
Duran will now undertake a robust appeals process in hopes of getting his conviction tossed – a prospect legal observers believe will be a tough road ahead.
Defense attorneys who argued cases in front of Mitchell in the past said he had not shown a bias against police, as far as they knew.
“I certainly have never had an impression that he was an anti-cop kind of guy,” said Sam Braverman, of the New York-based Anderson Kill P.C. law firm, who told The Post has known Mitchell for decades and even tried a case against him when the judge was a Bronx prosecutor 25 years ago. “I have no reason to believe that there is any truth to that.”
Family of NYPD officer Erik Duran outside of Bronx Supreme court. Matthew McDermott for NY Post
Troy Smith, a former Bronx prosecutor-turned-defense lawyer who has appeared numerous times in front of Mitchell, called him “a fair-minded judge and at the same time, a very law and order judge, period.”
“He didn’t have the reputation of being a soft-on-crime judge in the courthouse,” added attorney Brian Kennedy, who has worked as a prosecutor and defense counsel, saying he knew Mitchell as a jurist who has “called it right down the middle” during his tenure.
But he agreed the sentencing against Duran “seems excessive,” and also argued the AG’s Office should get some of the flack for pursuing the manslaughter charge.
Scene during the trial of police Sgt Erik Duran, regarding the death of Eric Duprey after the defendant threw an ice cooler at him on August 23-2023, at 190 Street and Aqueduct Avenue in the Bronx, NY. Tomas E. Gaston for NY Post
Defense lawyer and former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Bederow was also surprised by the sentence, calling it “very high.”
“I can’t recall the last time any police officer in New York convicted for an alleged use of force to defend someone got that kind of sentence,” he said, adding he believed the judge’s statement about it being a deterrent for other cops was “very damaging.”
“That strikes me as telling the cops you may get in trouble for making split-second decisions in an effort to try to save people,” he said.
— Additional reporting by Kyle Schnitzer