PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara McDermott denied a prosecutor’s request to reconsider the 11 ½- to 23-month prison sentence given in November to convicted Philadelphia police officer Eric Ruch.
The decision comes weeks after District Attorney Larry Krasner held a press conference chastising the court and the judge and calling the sentence “improper,” and said the judge “blamed the victim.”
Ruch appeared in court Thursday afternoon dressed in an orange jumpsuit. In September, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Dennis Plowden, an unarmed Black man who led police on a chase through the Ogontz neighborhood in 2017.
Plowden’s mother was in court for the arguments.
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When McDermott sentenced Ruch, she stated how and why she fashioned the sentence she did.
“This court considered everything thoroughly and completely and with great care,” McDermott told prosecutors, calling her ruling “fair, just and warranted.”
McDermott listened to prosecutors make an argument about a 2003 case where a judge said “such a departure is not legally warranted.” But the judge countered their point with a handful of cases she said legally justify her decision.
McDermott also added that she went back and looked at her own statistics for how she sentenced defendants and said about 20% of the time she will dip below the guidelines with recommendations from the DA’s office, and only about 10% of the time she gives out higher sentences.
McDermott also outlined how judges are bound by law to make their decisions and must consider if defendants are a danger to society, the need to be rehabilitated, and the gravity of the offense.
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She said although Ruch “broke the trust of the community” as a police officer when he fired the fatal shot, she fashioned a fair sentence, adding that “no amount of punishment will alleviate the pain” of the Plowden family.
McDermott said that although Ruch was the one who fired the shot and was convicted of the crime, it was Plowden who kicked off the series of events that led to the fatal interaction.
The judge also denied Ruch’s request for a new trial. His attorneys argued there wasn’t enough evidence for the jury to convict, but the judge said she disagreed.
Both the prosecution and the defense can appeal to a higher court.
Ruch could be out as early as this spring.