Slain NYPD Officer Sonia Garcia's brother throws a punch in court

...[Sonia's brother Ramon] Garcia was charged with second-degree harassment, a misdemeanor, and given a ticket to appear at Southampton Town Justice Court, he said. Garcia said later he regretted the confrontation... Chaparro, a former New York police academy instructor, faces a second-degree murder charge in his fiancee's slaying in their Bay Shore home last year. Sonia Garcia, 27, was also a city police officer...

Heated emotions lead to courtroom near-brawl
Newsday, NY - Apr 19, 2008
BY LUIS PEREZ | luis.perez@newsday.com
April 19, 2008
It was difficult enough for Ramon Garcia to see Alexis Chaparro's relatives - the family of the man accused of killing his sister Sonia - in the Riverhead courtroom. But it was too much, he said, for his family to hear laughter from their lips. "We got in there and [Chaparro's] brother provokes my brother, laughing," said Lucy Hernandez, the victim's sister, describing the incident that Friday led to a near-brawl in the courtroom as the families waited for a hearing in the case. According to court officers and others present, Ramon Garcia reacted by throwing a single punch that landed on Chaparro's brother, Angel. Court officers quickly restored order, separating the two men and leading Garcia's family outside the building. "Alexis has not said anything about what happened. And [the family] just sits in there like they're comfortable with that," Ramon Garcia, 30, of Connecticut, said after he was released by authorities... William Keahon, of Islandia, who represents Chaparro, said, "Unfortunately, the deceased's brother attacked my client's brother ... the stress and the emotions created an incident that hopefully will not occur again"... Chaparro, a former New York police academy instructor, faces a second-degree murder charge in his fiancee's slaying in their Bay Shore home last year. Sonia Garcia, 27, was also a city police officer. The business before Suffolk County Court Judge C. Randall Hinrichs was a motion to suppress evidence in Chaparro's trial. But moments before he was to hear the case, the fight erupted. Garcia was charged with second-degree harassment, a misdemeanor, and given a ticket to appear at Southampton Town Justice Court, he said. Garcia said later he regretted the confrontation. Chaparro was indicted in December, three months after he called 911 from the Bay Shore home where his fiancee was found with a single bullet wound to her chest. Chaparro has maintained his innocence and is being held in lieu of $250,000 cash bail. Garcia's family has said Sonia Garcia was victimized by a controlling, jealous partner. [Full article here]