Lillo Brancato fights felony charge

NEW YORK, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Actor Lillo Brancato's new lawyer claims the film and TV star was a visitor -- not a burglar -- the night a New York police officer was killed.

Attorney Joseph Tacopina said after a Bronx Supreme Court hearing Monday that Brancato was shouting his friend's name and knocking on the window, when approached by police officer Daniel Enchautegui, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

"When you go to burglarize a house, you don't pick your friend's house and start screaming his name loud enough to wake up neighbors at four in the morning," Tacopina said.

Although he claims he was not the shooter, Brancato -- who starred in the film "A Bronx Tale" with Robert De Niro and counts "The Sopranos" among his many TV credits -- has been charged with felony murder because prosecutors claim Enchautegui's death happened during the commission of a burglary.

However, Tacopina said, the felony murder charge will not stick against his client because "there was no burglary in progress."