Police say that Samantha Shader threw the device through a rear window of the van. She then allegedly bit an officer on the leg as they struggled to arrest her. When her sister attempted to intervene, she was also arrested.
Perhaps some of our New York lawyers could help us with a code issue. I was able to find attempted murder in the second degree but not a first degree program. Murder in the first degree includes
“the intended victim was a police officer as defined in subdivision 34 of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law who was at the time of the killing engaged in the course of performing his official duties, and the defendant knew or reasonably should have known that the intended victim was a police officer.”
This would appear therefore an attempted murder in the first degree.
The best defense would be to challenge either the allegation that she threw the device or that the device was actually explosive or flammable. A mental capacity defense is often hard to make out with there is preplanning or pre-construction of an explosive device.
It is hard to imagine any prosecutor bargaining down this charge since, if true, there would have been four officers burned to death if the device actually went off. Unless the device did not contain a flammable or explosive liquid, Shader is looking at serious time if convicted. For a Class A felony, the maximum term is life imprisonment. Even a Class B felony includes up to 25 years in prison.
Even if a life sentence is not sought, an effective life sentence can be achieved in such a case if the prosecutors count stack or ask for non-concurrent (or consecutive) sentencing.
Update: Others have been arrested for alleged firebombing attacks. In the second case, Urooj Raman tossed a Molotov cocktail into the NYPD vehicle and then jumped into a minivan. He and the driver Colinford Mattis, 32, were arrested and both are Brooklyn residents.
Here is the photo that accompanied the police affidavit:
