Former Virginia police officer pleads guilty to 2013 shooting
By Marcus E. Howard
(Reuters) - A former Virginia police officer pleaded guilty on Monday to involuntary manslaughter for shooting an unarmed man in a Washington suburb in August 2013, his attorney said.
Adam Torres, who had worked nine years as a Fairfax County police officer, faces a 12-month sentence in the death of John Geer, of Springfield, Virginia, as part of a plea deal reached just before the trial which was scheduled to begin on Monday, his lawyer John Carroll said in an interview.
Torres, 33, is due to be sentenced in June.
The county prosecutor's office and a county spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Torres was charged with second-degree murder following a special grand jury indictment in August. It marked the first time in the 75-year history of the Fairfax County Police Department that an officer had been charged for an on-duty shooting, the Washington Post reported.
The shooting of Geer, 46, led to protests against the police department and a U.S. Justice Department investigation.
Carroll said a Fairfax Circuit Court judge must grant final approval of the deal and could factor in the eight months Torres has been jailed.
"It's a difficult decision for anyone to decide on a sentence and a charge," said Carroll. "But one of the things Adam was most concerned about was that his actions caused Mr. Geer's children to be without a father."
Prosecutors questioned whether Torres was fit for duty, due to anger over marital problems, when he responded to a call about a domestic dispute at the townhouse Geer shared with his girlfriend and their two children. Police said Geer had threatened to use a weapon against them. A loaded holstered handgun was found near his body.
Police initially refused to release details about the shooting and for more than a year did not identify which officer had shot Geer.
Last April, Geer's family settled a wrongful death lawsuit against Fairfax County for $2.95 million. Three months later, Torres was fired by the police department.
(Reporting by Marcus E. Howard; Editing by Frank McGurty and Richard Chang)
