Exclusive | Lawyers for NYPD ‘cooler cop’ blindsided by judge’s ‘obvious anti-police bias’ despite his background as prosecutor

The judge who convicted and controversially sentenced ex-NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran to prison left the former cop’s attorneys blindsided by what they dubbed his “obvious anti-cop bias.”

Attorney Andrew Quinn, in an interview with The Post on Friday, said Duran’s legal team had vetted Bronx Supreme Court Justice Guy Mitchell, who trusted him for his years as a prosecutor and narcotics officer — leaving them “shocked.”

“When we vetted Judge Mitchell [before trial], we saw that he had a narcotics background, which we believed would have led him to have the insight to understand the dangers inherent in narcotics enforcement,” Quinn said.

“Therefore, we felt comfortable trying the case in front of him.”

Quinn ripped Mitchell for slamming his client with 3-to-9 years in prison Thursday, calling the decision “repugnant” in a case in which Duran tossed a picnic cooler at a fleeing drug suspect during a 2023 undercover drug bust operation.

Duran, a 38-year-old dad of three, opted to have a non-jury trial after he was indicted on charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault in the case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James’ Office.

But after the three-week proceedings, Mitchell found the 13-year veteran of the force guilty of second-degree manslaughter — ruling he recklessly caused 30-year-old Eric Duprey’s death when he chucked the red cooler at him on Aug. 23, 2023 in Kingsbridge Heights.

Duprey, a dad of two and delivery driver with a criminal record, had been fleeing arrest on a motorized scooter after selling $20 of crack cocaine to an undercover officer when the flying cooler hit him, causing him to lose control, crash into a parked car and crack his head on the pavement.

The sentencing guidelines called for anywhere from probation without jail time to 15 years behind bars.

Quinn said his client opted to let the judge, not a jury, determine his fate to give him a better chance at beating the rap.

“The understanding among the police community is you don’t trust a Bronx jury with a cop’s fate,” Quinn said, adding, “I don’t think that’s true anymore, can’t trust the judge either anymore.”

Mitchell was a prosecutor across every level of government before he was first tapped to be a judge in 2015 by Mayor Bill de Blasio and then re-appointed in 2022 by Mayor Eric Adams.

One of his jobs was as chief of the criminal division for the US Virgin Islands Department of Justice, where he managed a staff of prosecutors and homed in on major crimes, including narcotics, according to his LinkedIn profile.  

He coordinated with the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas” program, according to a 2015 Amsterdam News article about his appointment to the bench.

He was also a prosecutor for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office and worked for the state Attorney General’s Office.