{"id":192704,"date":"2026-04-10T21:09:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/192704\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T21:09:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:09:41","slug":"nyc-judge-who-locked-up-cooler-cop-faced-anger-for-going-easy-on-teen-who-killed-homeless-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/192704\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC judge who locked up ‘cooler cop’ faced anger for going easy on teen who killed homeless man"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bronx judge under fire for sentencing an ex-NYPD sergeant<\/a> to at least three years behind bars once offered a sweetheart deal to an alleged gang member who beat a homeless man to death.<\/p>\n

Justice Guy Mitchell in 2018 controversially served up what amounted to just nine months in prison for 19-year-old Branlee Gonzalez, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter and attempted assault, The Post previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Justice Guy Mitchell (above) presided over the case of Branlee Gonzales, 18, in court for viciously beating two strangers for catcalling his girlfriend in Inwood. Steven Hirsch<\/p>\n

Mitchell sentenced 19-year-old Branlee Gonzalez (above) to nine months in prison after he initially floated the possibility of giving the killer no jail time in 2018, according to past reports. Steven Hirsch<\/p>\n

Mitchell is now facing another firestorm<\/a> for sentencing former NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran<\/a> to three to nine years in prison on Thursday for fatally throwing a picnic cooler at a moped-fleeing drug suspect, Eric Duprey, in August 2023.<\/p>\n

The judge had sentenced Duran, 38, to manslaughter<\/a> \u2014 which carries a possible penalty of anywhere from probation to up to 15 years behind bars.<\/p>\n

In the prior controversial case, Mitchell, then serving in Manhattan Supreme Court, had even floated the possibility of giving Gonzalez zero jail time, but changed his mind the same day The Post began covering<\/a> the case.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez relentlessly pummeled Lucio Bravo, 69, on May 18, 2017 after the elderly man allegedly catcalled a loved one in Washington Heights. Bravo slipped into a coma while another victim suffered minor injuries.<\/p>\n

Ex-NYPD Sergeant Erik Duran was sentenced to nine years for fatally flinging a picnic cooler a fleeing drug suspect in August 2023. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Manhattan prosecutors had called on Gonzalez to get at least 10 years, alleging he was a member of the \u201cGorilla Stones\u201d gang.<\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s grieving daughter also demanded a stiff prison term.<\/p>\n

Surveillance cameras showed Duran hurling a full Igloo cooler at the drug suspect at the scene. Tomas E. Gaston for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I believe in second chances but I also believe the defendant must learn that all actions have consequences,\u201d she wrote to the judge in a letter.<\/p>\n

Mitchell at first told Gonzalez he\u2019d likely get no jail time if he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and stayed out of trouble. But the judge then reversed course and put forward a sentence of 1 \u00b9\/\u2083 to four years in prison \u2014 which would see the teen locked up for at least nine months, The Post reported at the time.<\/p>\n

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Gonzalez\u2019s lawyer, Luis Diaz, had argued his client deserved leniency because he had miserable childhood, including sexual abuse by a family member.<\/p>\n

In the recent manslaughter trial, Mitchell, now a Bronx judge, disagreed with Duran\u2019s lawyers\u2019 argument that the cop had chucked the cooler at Duprey to save other officers\u2019 lives in a chaotic moment.<\/p>\n

He justified the sentence, in part, by saying it would serve as a \u201cgeneral deterrent\u201d for other police officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe distinction is that the deceased will no longer be seen again by his family,\u201d Mitchell said at Duran\u2019s sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bronx judge under fire for sentencing an ex-NYPD sergeant to at least three years behind bars once…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,2000,57,9,24,63,103,4719,35426,129,131,130,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-192704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-homelessness","10":"tag-metro","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nypd","15":"tag-prisons","16":"tag-sentences","17":"tag-the-bronx","18":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","19":"tag-the-bronx-news","20":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}