Colleagues wait and worry for verdict in police officer's shooting death

City police Investigator Jack Sitts is one of a number of police officers who took their vacation this week so they wouldn't miss the trial of Wesley Molina-Cirino, the person prosecutors believe killed Officer Thomas Lindsey last April.

Sitts said during Thursday's wait for a jury verdict there has been a "constant flow of blue" in Oneida County Court to hear the details of what happened during the April 12 traffic stop on Neilson Street.

The jury was still deliberating Thursday night as uniformed officers, officers in regular clothes and investigators in suits waited for the jury to reach a verdict on whether Molina-Cirino, 24, of Utica is guilty or not guilty in connection with Lindsey's shooting death.

Officers came before and after their shifts and on days off, Sitts said. It's been nerve wracking, he said.

"There's a lot of stress," Sitts said. "It really weighs on everybody here. Just look around, you can see the emotion on everybody's face.

"It's the death of a police officer, a co-worker, a friend to a lot of us and for obvious reasons - we want justice served," he said.

Some officers paced in hall of the courthouse, some sat resting their chin in their hands or tapping their feet.

Oneida County Sheriff's Deputy Patrick Kahl has worked for three years doing security at the courthouse. As he waited into the evening Thursday, he was doing crossword puzzles on the first floor while he waited.

"The mood is kind of gloomy," said Kahl, who's been a deputy sheiff for nearly 37 years. "I want to hear a verdict. The longer you wait - the gloomier it gets."

Working the court detail, Kahl said he's come to know a lot of officers who walk through the court's doors for various cases. There's a sense of emotion for his fellow officers, he said.

"I feel it," Kahl said, "but I'm not going to show it."

That emotion could be seen on the faces of the many Utica Police Department members that were at the trial Thursday.

"Now it's just the waiting game," Utica Sgt. Al Uryniak said Thursday afternoon as he sat in the courtroom. "And we're praying. The last thing we need to do is go through this all over again."

Uryniak, a 25-year member of the department, said thousands of thoughts run through the minds of those waiting for the verdict, but it's up to the jury.

"Right now, all I'm focused on is this," Uryniak said.

It's difficult for those so closely tied to the case, Sitts said, "because juries are unpredictable and you never know what they're thinking."

Waiting is part of the process, but it comes with a lot of stress and concern, he said.

"Tommy and I were good friends," Sitts said, his voice trailing off. "I don't care when it ends, as long as it's in our favor."

Observer-Dispatch