May 09--STAMFORD -- The accused drug dealer who shot a Stamford narcotics officer in the face two years ago pleaded guilty to felony assault Tuesday at state Superior Court in Stamford and agreed to serve 25 years in prison.
The guilty plea comes a month after Ephraim Goitom, 29, pleaded guilty to narcotics and weapons charges before a federal judge in Hartford. Goitom also faces a 25-year prison sentence for his federal charges, which will run concurrently with his punishment from the state charges, prosecutors said. Goitom will be sentenced July 11 in federal court in Hartford and July 25 in state Superior Court in Stamford.
In front of a courtroom packed with dozens of Stamford police officers on Tuesday, Goitom pled guilty to charges of first-degree assault and criminal possession of a pistol by a convicted felon. Goitom initially faced the more serious charge of attempted murder. As part of his plea agreement, Goitom faces a "flat-time" sentence, which means he forgoes probation or a suspended sentence.
Goitom was accused of shooting Stamford police Sgt. Richard Gasparino in the face on the night of Dec. 9, 2010, as a Narcotics and Organized Crime team prepared to execute a search warrant outside Goitom's third-story Lockwood Avenue apartment. Goitom allegedly heard the officers trying to enter his home and fired a single gunshot through his back door.
The bullet hit Gasparino in the cheek and traveled into his neck, said Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney James Bernardi.
"While he survived the wound, it left a disfiguring scar across his cheek," Bernardi said during Tuesday's hearing.
Gasparino, who shared the Stamford Police Officer of the Year award with his partner in 2009, was hospitalized for three days, needed more than 100 stitches and suffered permanent scarring, police said. The narcotics officer and his wife, Lauren, sat behind prosecutors during Tuesday's hearing.
The incident was the first criminal shooting of a Stamford officer in 38 years.
"He took a shot at me, but he also took a shot at the Stamford Police Department and police officers across the country," Gasparino said before the hearing. "That's why you see the support."
Gasparino said the shooting made the dangers of police-work that much more real for him and his wife. Gasparino said Tuesday marked the first time he saw Goitom since the night of Dec. 9, 2010. He said his family would have liked a harsher punishment than the 25-year sentence.
"It takes the sense of security away from us," Gasparino said.
Bernardi said state and federal authorities agreed to jointly prosecute Goitom in order to secure a prison sentence that reflected the "outrage" over the shooting of a law enforcement officer. Bernardi said the narcotics team announced its presence after climbing a three-story, exterior staircase and before trying to enter Goitom's home.
Goitom's lawyer, Darnell Crosland, said Goitom thought a burglar was breaking into his home for a second time that day when he fired a shot through his back door with a Ruger .357-caliber revolver. He said he did not hear the officers announce themselves.
"It appeared to be a covert effort to enter his home," Crosland said. "It was not a clear, 'knock-and-announce' situation."
Just after the shooting, Goitom told investigators that someone broke into his home earlier that day and attacked his sister, and that he chased the man out and fired a shot into the air to scare him, court documents show.
"I'm really glad that we didn't have a situation where an officer was killed in Stamford," Crosland said. "Mr. Goitom has been up-front from day one about what happened then."
Goitom has been incarcerated on $2 million bond since his arrest.
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