Mineola, NY - July 29, 2014 - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced that a Nassau County jury today found a Queens man guilty of intentionally murdering Nassau County Police Officer Arthur Lopez and Brooklyn motorist Raymond Facey at two separate locations along the Nassau-Queens border in October 2012.
Darrell Fuller, 34, of St. Albans, was found guilty today on all counts submitted to the jury, including two counts of Murder in the 1st Degree (an A felony), Murder in the 2nd Degree (an A felony), two counts of Robbery in the 1st Degree (a B violent felony) and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2nd Degree (a C violent felony) after an eight-week trial before Nassau County Court Judge Jerald Carter. The prosecution called 78 witnesses during the course of the trial. The jury deliberated for five hours over the course of two days. Fuller faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is due back in court on Sept. 5.
“Today a jury of Darrell Fuller’s peers found him guilty of the intentional killing of a police officer and an innocent motorist. By his actions, Fuller demonstrated that he had no respect for the law or for human life,” DA Rice said. “I want to thank the men and women of the jury for their hard work. My thoughts and prayers are with the families, friends, and colleagues of Officer Lopez and Mr. Facey. May their loved ones find some peace and closure from today’s verdict.”
On Oct. 23, 2012 at 11 a.m., Lopez, 29, an eight-year veteran of the force, and his partner observed a car driven by Fuller leave the scene of an accident on Northern Boulevard near the Cross Island Parkway in Queens.
After a pursuit southbound along the Cross Island Parkway, Fuller’s car exited the parkway and came to a stop on 241st Street near Jamaica Avenue. Officer Lopez then approached Fuller, who was standing outside his vehicle. Fuller shot Officer Lopez at close range in the chest. Officer Lopez was then transported to Long Island Jewish Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Fuller got back into his vehicle and returned to the parkway, where he came upon a vehicle parked on the shoulder of the roadway with Facey, 51, of Brooklyn, alone inside. Fuller shot Facey twice in the face and head through the driver’s side window and then fled in Facey’s vehicle before abandoning it in a Queens neighborhood. Facey was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Fuller was apprehended later that night on 111th Avenue near 173rd Street in Queens, where he was found by police with two non-life threatening gunshot wounds.
Assistant District Attorney Mitchell Benson, chief of DA Rice’s Major Offense Bureau, and Assistant District Attorneys Michael Walsh, Shanon LaCorte, Rachel Lasry, and Anthony Perri are prosecuting the case. Fuller is represented by Kenneth St. Bernard, Esq. and Francis Quigley, Esq.