A Philadelphia judge has handed down a lenient sentence after a former Philadelphia police officer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a man in 2023.
The former cop, Mark Dial, was sentenced to 9-and-a-half months to two years in prison in the killing of 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, a sentence far less than state guidelines mandate for the crime, which is 3-and-a-half to seven years behind bars. The assistant district attorney had asked for a five-to-10-year sentence.
Since the 29-year-old Dial has already served almost 10 months in jail, he was paroled immediately on Thursday and is now a free man. Both the prosecutor and Irizarry’s family said justice was not served in this case.
The Inquirer reported that District Attorney Larry Krasner said he was disheartened by the permissive sentence. “I am deeply disappointed with a verdict that I think makes people lose faith in the criminal justice system.”
Dial shot and killed Irizarry, a Puerto Rican, just seconds into a traffic stop after mistakenly believing he had a gun. Instead, Irizarry was only holding a knife. He had his window rolled up, and Krasner maintained that the 27-year-old posed no threat to Dial or his partner.
Krasner said at a news conference Thursday that the sentence was a clear example of the inequality in the criminal justice system, a system that functions more like a “caste system.”
“There is nothing new about white people being treated better than Black and brown people, and there is nothing new, sadly, about the status of a defendant — whether that status involves wearing a uniform or not — nothing new about that being unequal,“ Krasner said.
“Everything I just said has always been wrong, and it is wrong today,” he added
Dial was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person and possession of an instrument of crime in May. The Inquirer reported the jury found he had acted unreasonably and criminally when he shot Irizarry six times within seconds of encountering him in his car, but he was found not guilty of third-degree murder, the most serious charge he was facing.
As he handed down the light sentence, Common Pleas Court Judge Glenn B. Bronson tried to validate it by saying the shooting was not “a classic voluntary manslaughter case.”
Bronson admitted the killing of Irizarry profoundly impacted the victim’s family and the community, but said Dial’s behavior that day was “demonstrably out of character” and that he posed no risk to the public.
Dial’s attorney Brian McMonagl said, “That’s a good man, and he doesn’t deserve to go back to prison.”
The judge agreed and was possibly moved by how upset Dial was. The Inquirer reported that the former cop cried so hard at times during the sentencing that what he said was unclear.
“Every day I wish the outcome had been different,” Dial said. “I truly believed my life … was in danger.”
Irizarry’s family is outraged by the slap on the wrist of a sentence. His aunt Ana Cintron said Dial has no remorse for the killing, despite his “crocodile tears” in court.
“Again, unbelievable, again,” Cintron said, according to WCAU-TV. “My nephew’s life as if it didn’t matter at all. He literally took his life, there was more than enough evidence. Six seconds, for crying out loud. And he gets to go home again.”
“If it was me, and I would have committed this crime, I would have been in years. I would have been doing life in prison,” said another aunt, Zoraida Garcia. “He was a cop, so he gets the okay.”
The Irizarry isn’t alone in condemning the light sentence.
“I am disappointed by today’s sentencing decision,” city council member Quetcy Lozada said in a statement on Facebook. She called it “disheartening” and acknowledged the family’s pain over the loss.
“I stand with them in their grief and in their continued pursuit of accountability,” she wrote.
This X user had stronger words for Dial: “Mark Dial should never know a second of peace. If you see him, be sure to remind him he’s a murderer.”
“Mark Dial got a light sentence for murder smh if it was anyone else they would get life in prison without parole,” another X user posted.
Irizarry’s family has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city, the police department, and Dial.
And since Dial was convicted of a felony in the case, he can never return to law enforcement or own a gun.
