Photo by AlbinoFlea

Kenneth Furr, a Metropolitan Police Department officer who was arrested in August 2011 after an incident in which he fired a gun at a group of women after he attempted to solicit sex from an transgender prostitute, was sentenced today to five years in prison, U.S. Attorney Ron Machen and D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier announced.

But Furr, who was found guilty in D.C. Superior Court last October on counts of solicitation and assault with a deadly weapon, received a suspended sentence of 14 months on the condition that he complete three years of supervised probation. Furthermore, as Furr was in custody from the date of his arrest until his guilty verdict last year, Judge Russell F. Canan credited that period as time served. Furr, who was placed in a “high-intensity” supervision program following his guilty verdict, has now been released on probation.

Furr was arrested the morning of August 26, 2011, after an incident that began outside a CVS store on the 400 block of Massachusetts Avenue NW, where Furr attempted to pick up a group of transgender prostitutes. After he was turned down, he followed them into the store, where a verbal confrontation ensued. A store security guard asked Furr to leave.

According to the government’s evidence, Furr encountered the women, plus two more acquaintances, a few blocks away about 20 minutes later. After Furr again attempted to solicit sex, the complainants car started to pull away, with one of the occupants briefly assaulting Furr. The officer sped off in his car and the complainants followed.

Furr parked near the intersection of First and Pierce Streets NW and then started shooting at the complainants’ car. He jumped on the hood and shot through the windshield; three occupants suffered non-life-threatening wounds.

UPDATE, 5:30 p.m.: Furr’s arrest came in the middle of a spate of attacks against transgender individuals, and spurred criticism from activists that MPD was not doing enough to prevent violent crimes against transgender victims. And today’s sentencing, under which Furr will not serve any additional jail time as long as he abides by his probation, did little to heal that division.

“I’m outraged, and members of the community I’ve heard from are outraged,” Jason Terry of the D.C. Trans Coalition writes in an email. “This result is the product of a legal system that constantly devalues trans lives. Officer Furr’s defense team actively sought to portray the victims as somehow deserving of this violence, and apparently they succeeded. If roles had been reversed and a trans woman had gotten drunk and flashed a gun at a police officer, the results would be drastically different.”

Terry cites a national survey of transgender individuals that showed that 46 percent are hesitant to call the police. Furthermore, Terry says, District-specific research in 2010 by the Alliance for a Safe and Diverse D.C. concluded that 78 percent of the city’s transgender residents fear police.

“Officer Furr exemplifies why this fear exists,” Terry writes.

And while the District’s top law enforcement official’s heaped praise on Furr’s conviction and sentencing, Terry is less optimistic: “Ron Machen and Cathy Lanier can pat themselves on the back all they want, but this isn’t justice.”