NEW YORK, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Four men convicted in the 1988 killing a young New York City police officer will be coming up for parole for the first time in November.
Carole Weaver, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Parole, said each of the convicts -- Philip Copeland, Scott Cobb, Todd Scott and David McClary -- will be given separate interviews with parole board commissioners at the prisons where they are being held, the New York Post reported Monday.
They were convicted of the Feb. 26, 1988, slaying of NYPD officer Edward Byrne. Officials said the four shot Byrne, 22, in the head five times inside his marked patrol car in New York's Queens borough in exchange for $8,000 from a narcotics trafficker who had been busted by Byrne a day earlier.
In two separate trials, the four killers each received sentences of 25 years to life in prison.
Bryne's family has been asked to appear at the offices of the state Division of Parole to provide "victim impact" statements on the morning of Oct. 5, officials said.
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch told the Post "Edward Byrne's merciless assassins should leave prison only in coffins," referring to the pending parole bids.
