He shot at a New York state trooper in Deposit. Jury says he's guilty of attempted murder
UPDATE 2/4/2022: Broome County man sentenced to 30 years to life for attempted murder of state trooper
Scott Mawhiney was having a bad day at work June 23. Before that day ended, he got into an argument with his fiancée, then picked up a shotgun and opened fire at a New York State trooper.
The frustrations that day began with his ire over limited parking spaces at his job. He asked a co-worker whether it was OK to park in front of their car to make room for his own. Later that day, the sight of a tow truck circling the lot was enough to set off Mawhiney's exasperation. Adding to that, he believed his fiancée was cheating on him, so he left work early.
He returned to his Deposit residence shortly before 6 p.m., took some anxiety medication and poured himself a white Russian cocktail with vodka.
Then another. And another.
A few hours later at his home, 44-year-old Mawhiney was firing a shotgun toward New York State Trooper Ryan Thorp, leaving that trooper wounded in the arm and blowing out a spotlight on the patrol vehicle. Two other shots hit the patrol vehicle, parked about 25 yards from the house.
"The shots were very accurate," Broome County District Attorney Michael Korchak told a jury Tuesday as Mawhiney's trial for attempted murder and other charges got underway. "One of them, the one that hit the spotlight, would've hit Trooper Thorp in the head, had he not ducked down."
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After about 50 law enforcement officers surrounded the house, Mawhiney walked outside in nothing but basketball shorts, his hands in the air. What happened before the gunshots — the scuffle between Mawhiney, his fiancée and his daughter that spurred a 911 call — summoned Thorp to investigate the incident as a reported domestic disturbance involving a gun.
Over the course of nearly three days in Broome County Court, jurors heard from state police, investigators, and Mawhiney himself, before finding him guilty late Friday of felony counts of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault of a police officer. He was also found guilty of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, and a second-degree harassment violation.
There was no visible reaction from Mawhiney as the verdict was read — it took jurors nearly three hours to reach their decision — though members of his family in the courtroom gallery wept as he was taken to Broome County jail in handcuffs.
Mawhiney was released on bail in August, but as a result of the guilty verdict, he faces the prospect of up to 20 years to life in prison.
What the defense argued in Deposit trooper shooting trial
Defense lawyer Ronald Benjamin's case centered on how intoxicated Mawhiney had been at the time of the shooting, and he disputed little of the events surrounding that night.
Mawhiney consumed the prescription medication and at least four white Russian cocktails that night, his lawyer said, and that made him even more inebriated.
This extreme intoxication, Benjamin argued to jurors, made it impossible for his client to form the criminal intent necessary under the law to be guilty of the crimes. But for this, Benjamin said, his client had been a law-abiding and hardworking person all his life.
"I am not in any way trying to diminish the seriousness of these events," Benjamin told jurors in his 30-minute opening speech, before pacing behind a podium in the courtroom and pointing toward Mawhiney. "What the defendant did — reckless, dangerous — but it wasn't intentional."
Thorp, a member of the New York State Police for three years, was wounded in his right arm by shrapnel from his patrol vehicle's spotlight that had been shot. He has not returned to duty as a result of the injury.
Trooper shot in Deposit: Here's how it unfolded
Mawhiney and his fiancée both worked together, but on June 23, they had opposite shifts.
When he came home early that night, she questioned why he was drinking. He described his parking complaints and she agreed with him.
Later that evening, around 8 p.m., Mawhiney asked for her phone while she was getting ready for bed. She handed it to him, she testified, but then he just stood there.
She tried to take her phone back, and that's when he started yelling. He accused her of cheating on him. The argument intensified, and that's when Mawhiney's daughter intervened, but he grabbed her.
This behavior was not like him at all, his fiancée testified. She hurried outside to call 911.
"You need to get away from him," the 911 dispatcher told her, after she stated she saw Mawhiney walk out of the house with a shotgun.
"There it goes," his fiancée exclaimed moments later, her voice quivering, after the dispatcher said state police were on the way. "He just shot it!"
She didn't see the gunshot, but she heard it, after she and Mawhiney's daughter went across the street to a neighbor's house.
Thorp responded to the domestic dispute and was in the process of interviewing the victim outside the neighbor's house when he heard shots fired. He ducked behind the front passenger door of his patrol car for cover, without time to put on his bulletproof vest.
Another shot was fired at the car at 9:13 p.m., Korchak said, and it struck the spotlight. Thorp was injured.
Mawhiney fired the shots through a window of his residence.
The trooper backed away to a nearby building for cover and in the process, dropped his radio and left his patrol car with the door open.
How the shooting in Deposit ended with an arrest
Another state trooper got the same dispatch around 9 p.m. about the domestic dispute and drove about 10 minutes from Route 17 in Hancock to Deposit. Thorp arrived there first, so he tried to radio Thorp, who had just reported that he'd been shot in the right arm.
There was no answer.
When the second trooper pulled up the scene, there was only an empty patrol car in sight. He thought the worst, called out Thorp's name, and moments later, Thorp responded from where he'd moved for cover.
Thorp was driven away to be taken to the hospital, while more state troopers and Broome County Sheriff's deputies converged.
An hour after about 50 officers arrived outside the Deposit residence, they heard another shot from the rear of the house. Then another shot.
Moments later, Mawhiney stepped out onto the front porch. He was unarmed and his hands were in the air. Troopers told him to get down on the ground, and during a quick search, they found 15 to 20 shotgun shells in his pockets.
"I'm not going to deny what I've done," Mawhiney allegedly told an investigator after being handcuffed.
Korchak argued Mawhiney's didn't appear too drunk to speak clearly or walk to a patrol car after being taken into custody, though the defense claimed police reports described him as being "extremely intoxicated" at the time.
When he spoke to investigators after being arrested, Mawhiney told police he understood his rights, that he was having trouble with his girlfriend and that he had "a few drinks" that night.
Benjamin argued Mawhiney was actually shooting at random, likely the result of being so intoxicated, not aiming directly at the trooper.
But Korchak countered that Mawhiney was coherent enough to send multiple text messages to family and others after the shots were fired. He texted an acquaintance that "I'm gonna die tonight," and that person quickly called him back and tried to get him to turn himself in.
"It's too late," Mawhiney replied, "I already shot him."
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This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: NY trooper shooting: Jury finds Deposit man guilty of attempted murder
