Thomas Johnson III has been convicted by a jury on the top charge in the death of Rochester Police Office Daryl Pierson.
Johnson gunned down Officer Pierson on Hudson Avenue last September. Friday afternoon, a jury found Johnson guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
As we have reported, the case boiled down to one question — was Daryl Pierson acting as a police officer when he chased Thomas Johnson III? Today, a jury said yes, Pierson was acting a police officer. The defense had argued that Johnson did not commit a crime before the shooting that evening so Pierson should never have been chasing him.

James Hinman says, “I don’t think anyone expected a jury would take the time that this jury took, looking into those things and examining the issues and weigh it carefully.

The jury did take this very seriously. After a week of testimony it took them close to 16 hours to come up with a verdict.

Thomas Johnson III is guilty on six counts. The jury says he intentionally killed Rochester Police Officer Daryl Pierson that September night and also tried to kill his partner Officer Michael DiPaola. Now, Johnson will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

After the verdict, a hug between DiPaola and District Attorney Sandra Doorley showed just how important the verdict was to the prosecution, police officers, the Pierson family and community.

Amanda Ciavarri: “Talk to us about the emotion and importance of this verdict.”

District Attorney Sandra Doorley: “It is the men and women of the Rochester Police Department of law enforcement — they go out, the put on the uniform every single day to make our community safe. And for some individual to take a life; to take a member of law enforcement from us because he didn’t want to go back to prison, it’s despicable, it’s appalling. And the community needs to say ‘enough is enough.'”

Defense Attorney James Hinman represented Johnson. After the verdict, he told News10NBC, “This was no surprise to him. He knew all along that this could be the outcome.

“Everyone wanted to know why he didn’t just plead guilty. ‘Why have a trial? Why do that?’ This shows how our system works. I think it was a real class move that Chief Ciminelli, when the case was over, to come up to us and thank us for doing a good job representing [Johnson]. That’s what the system is all about.”

Sources close to 13WHAM have identified the suspect in the fatal shooting of a Rochester police officer as Thomas Johnson III, 38.

Parole records show Johnson was released from prison less than three weeks ago.

Records indicate he was incarcerated for second-degree attempted robbery.

Around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, a Rochester police officer was shot while pursuing a suspect in the area of Hudson Avenue and Warsaw Street.

The officer was taken to Rochester General Hospital and pronounced dead.

The suspect was also shot and was in surgery overnight. He is listed in guarded condition at Strong Memorial Hospital.

A third person, an innocent bystander, was also shot but is expected to recover.

We expect to learn more from police Thursday and will provide updates when they become available.