PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Darby man convicted of the attempted murder of a Philadelphia police officer could spend as long as 44 years in prison.
There were so many law enforcement officers at Eric Haynes’ sentencing hearing Friday that reporters and other lawyers had to sit in the jury box. About 30 officers showed up in support of Officer Giovanni Maysonet, who survived the two bullets Haynes fired at him during a traffic stop in February 2023.
Emotions ran high in the courtroom. Maysonet’s family cried while prosecutors played body camera video from the Feb. 8, 2023, traffic stop, showing Maysonet asking Haynes to get out of the car — and Haynes firing at him twice. Maysonet’s vest stopped one bullet. The other one hit him in the gut.
Through tears, the officer told the court he was unable to look at himself in the mirror after the shooting and had to have six surgeries that he wasn’t sure he would live through.
Defense attorneys called the shooting inexcusable and said Haynes has a drug problem and was high when Maysonet pulled over the car he was riding in, and he panicked.
They asked the court for the minimum sentence of 15 years, arguing Haynes took PCP to escape trauma he lived through as a child — but the judge said, “at some point, you need to face your demons.” He sentenced Haynes to 22 to 44 years in prison.
“I came out of a tough life. I had a tough childhood,” said Commissioner Kevin Bethel, “but I didn’t turn into a killer.”
Bethel said Maysonet’s story is representative of many city cops who have been hurt in the line of duty.
“Oftentimes people don’t see the aftermath of what he had to endure — when he talks about the six surgeries that he has to have gone through, the trauma that he’s dealing with,” Bethel said. “You know, it’s significant.”
The commissioner said he wishes the judge had given Haynes more time behind bars.
“I’m never gonna be satisfied,” said Bethel. “For an individual that comes up and tries to kill one of my men and women, there’s no satisfaction in that, whatsoever. I don’t know how much time he gets to go away. And he’ll be fine, and whatever happens in his life — I really don’t care.”
Before his sentencing, Haynes apologized to Maysonet and said he hopes one day to be forgiven.