Ex-Police Chief Who Organized Gun Show Acquitted in Uzi Death of Boy, 8
A former police chief was acquitted today by a Springfield, Mass., jury in a high-profile criminal case brought over the death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally killed himself in 2008 when he was allowed to fire an Uzi by himself at a machine gun expo.
Onetime Pelham Police Chief Edward Fleury could have faced as much as 50 years in prison had he been convicted of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of furnishing machine guns to minors, reports the Associated Press.
His acquittal also calls into doubt, the article says, an ongoing criminal case against two co-defendants who also brought machine guns to the event at which Christopher Bizilj accidentally shot himself in the head with a 9 mm micro Uzi when he couldn’t control the gun’s kickback.
The boy’s father, an emergency room physician, brought both the 8-year-old and an 11-year-old brother to the event and was filming Christopher when he shot himself.
The father wasn’t charged, said prosecutor William Bennett, because “I thought he had been punished enough.”
Fleury cried and hugged his attorney, Rosemary Curran Scapicchio, after the verdict was announced. He owns a firearms training company that co-sponsored the expo.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Boy, 8, Dead in Uzi Firing Range Accident; Some Suggest Change in Law”
ABAJournal.com: “Police Chief, Gun Club Indicted After Boy’s Death From Uzi”
ABAJournal.com: “Judge Allows Jurors to See Video of Boy Accidentally Killing Himself at Gun Show”
