Lamont Pride, the 28-year-old man who killed police officer Peter Figoski during a botched home invasion/drug dealer robbery in 2011, was sentenced to 45 years to life today. It was the maximum allowable sentence.
Pride, who was convicted of murdering 22-year NYPD veteran Figoski earlier in the month, declined to apologize to Figoski's family at the sentencing, but he did apologize to his own. "I just want to apologize to my family for putting them through this," the cop killer said. "I want to let my two brothers know as long as I got you in my corner we're going to stand tall."
His lack of remorse didn't, in the end, seem to phase Figoski's family, who spoke at the sentencing. "Lamont Pride will be missed by no one," his former wife Mary Ann Figoski told the court. When an observer shouted that "he'll be missed by me!" she just kept on going, explaining that, "Lamont Pride will fade to nothing."
Mary Ann was not the only family member to speak. All of the fallen officer's four daughters, aged 15 to 21, offered statements before the sentence was delivered:
"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. "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."
“We live with the understanding that the day might come that Lamont Pride might have the opportunity to walk out of prison a free man and resume the only life he knows,” said Caroline, 17. “That is a life of crime. Please don’t give this ‘monster’ the opportunity to rob another family and give another family the heartache and suffering that Lamont Pride has give to our family.”
