FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A jury found Tiniko Thompson guilty, Friday, of murdering her cop boyfriend in May, 2014.
Thompson was found guilty second-degree murder in the shooting of her boyfriend, City of Miami Police Officer Carl Patrick. The jury took just over an hour-and-a-half to deliver their verdict in the Broward County Courthouse.
Thompson, 48, faces life in prison. The prosecution said they are recommending a life sentence.
Family and friends huddled around Patrick’s mother Lucille in the hallway outside the courtroom afterwards and said a prayer.
“I’m wearing a pin on the inside of my jacket, that says ‘Believe’ that she gave me told on to her,” said prosecutor Shari Tate.
Patrick’s friend, Melissa Johnson, said she was relieved for the trial to be over. “I’m really glad that this phase is over with now and that we finally have vindication in everything,” she said.
During the trial, which lasted about two weeks, Thompson’s defense claimed that she shot her boyfriend in self-defense after he attacked her in their Pembroke Pines home. She claimed that he had pointed a gun at her, and that’s when she was forced to shoot him.
On Friday, prosecutors reiterated their case to the jury: Thompson lied about a pregnancy to Patrick, ran up his credit card charges, and when he was about to find out, she shot him and let him bleed to death.
“The evidence tells you that she took the life of Carl Patrick,” said Tate. “Tiniko Thompson, in this case, made sure that not only was he not going to be help himself, she made sure no one else was going to help because no one else was going to help him live to be able to tell her tangled web, to tell her lies,” Tate said.
Thompson’s defense claimed that Patrick was in on the fake pregnancy. “That’s inconceivable. He knew, like I said before, he either knew, was in on it, or he was the most inexperienced man when it comes to a pregnant woman that I’ve ever seen in my life,” defense attorney Rodrick Vereen said.
“I don’t know if he was trying to intimidate her or if he was trying to kill her, but once you pull that gun and you point it at somebody, whether you’re a police officer or not, when you’re not acting in the line of duty, that’s an aggravated assault.”
But prosecutors said that Thompson’s defense did not add up. Tate showed crime scene photos of their bedroom, saying the bedroom did not look like there had been any struggle or fight.
“She is fighting because she is getting ready to be murdered and not even a lamp and a vase is knocked over on these rickety, plastic, little three-shelf things,” Tate said, pointing to crime scene photos. “How’s that happen?”
Friends and family said that clearing Patrick’s name was important to them.
“The defendant tried to depict him as an abuser and it was quite the contrary,” Johnson said. “He was not, he was a loving person.”
As she left the courtroom in handcuffs, Thompson blew a kiss.
Those who worked with Patrick on the force felt that justice was served. The former Miami PD Assistant Chief said Lucille deserved closure and justice so she could start to move on.
“Celebration, it’s not a celebration. It’s more of a relief,” said former Miami Police Assistant Chief Craig McQueen. “She needed to have this closure and justice so now they can try to start to move on.”
Thompson’s sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 6.
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