First look at GWB shooting suspect Victor Romero in court

The retired NYPD detective accused in a deadly road rage execution on the George Washington Bridge. It is the first time we are seeing Victor Romero on camera. Welcome to The Noon. I'm Richard Giacobis. Outrage inside and outside the courthouse as that retired NYPD detective comes face to face with a judge and the victim's friends and family. Fox 5's Antoine Lewis is live outside the courthouse with our top story at noon. Antoine. This is the first time that many in the public are actually seeing the defendant. There's been no social media, no Facebook, no visible footprint of the defendant until this morning. And this is video of 62-year-old retired NYPD detective Victor Romero on his way into court. He was accompanied by his attorney and made very little, if any, eye contact as he was entering and leaving the building. Romero is accused of fatally shooting 46-year-old Corin Irvine last Tuesday evening in what's being investigated as a road rage incident. The NYPD says around 6.45, Romero and Irvine nearly collided as they were entering the GWB. Prosecutors say surveillance video shows Romero then aggressively tailgating Irvine's car, pulling up next to it, then firing at least one shot into the vehicle. Irvine, a married father of two, will later die from his injuries. He was also a well-regarded employee at Con Ed. And to that end, listen to this. That's more than a hundred of his co-workers from Con Ed also at the court this morning, shouting and yelling at Victor Romero as he was entering and leaving the building this morning. You could hear them saying things like murderer and why'd you do it? Chris Dimoli was one of those. Take a listen to Chris. He was a great man, great co-worker, one of the best people that we know. We're all here, you know, to support him and hope that this goes the way that it should and not where this guy gets off with a slap on the wrist. Now, we want to bring in criminal defense attorney Adam Conta to continue our coverage of this. Today's hearing had to do with the grand jury. Walk us through. Sure. So today it was on in part F. That's the upfront part in Manhattan for unindicted felonies. In order for a felony to go forward, it has to be indicted by the grand jury. And so cases stay there until they're indicted by the grand jury. So what happened today is Essentially, they got alternative dates, which doesn't always happen for out defendants. Usually something that happens for incarcerated defendants. But I think this is such a firestorm of a case. They're trying to do as much as they can in as little appearances as possible. And so right now, my belief is that the district attorney's office is in the grand jury presenting the case. And it could be indicted as early as today. If it is indicted, then the case will move to a Supreme Court part where it will be on for Supreme Court arraignment. if for whatever reason it doesn't get indicted, then that would change the direction of the case dramatically. But I think that's very unlikely. Adam, let's talk about the charges. Initially, when he was arrested, he was charged with murder. Those charges were downgraded to first degree manslaughter. Walk us through what you thought or imagined. Well, I think this is what everyone's question is. And I think there's still a lot of answers that need to be given for us to really understand it. I think the bottom line is that the district attorney's office evaluated the case very quickly and said, we don't think that there's enough intent here or premeditation to prove that this was in fact a murder versus a manslaughter. And again, the difference between murder and manslaughter is murder is you intend to cause death and death occurs. You want to kill someone, you kill someone. Manslaughter is you go out maybe intending to cause serious bodily injury, not necessarily intending to kill, but death sort of happens recklessly. I think the problem here is that everyone is really a bit confused by how that analysis happened so quickly. Usually, in my experience, as someone who's represented many people accused of homicide here in Manhattan, they would charge murder, and then you kind of have to claw and argue as to why you think it's manslaughter. And it seems like that was kind of done up front in this case, and that's a bit unusual in my experience. Adam, last question before you go. One of the other conversations certainly has to do with the fact, how do you mount a defense when you are allegedly seen on surveillance video acting aggressive, showing what some have identified as road rage? Well, you're going to have to come up with something, right? And so whether it's self-defense, whether it's an extreme emotional disturbance that you were so outside your body that you didn't even realize what you were doing, they're going to have to show either that it was trying to defend himself or that he wasn't available, he wasn't able to determine right from wrong in that moment. I think it's a difficult task, but again, starting at manslaughter versus murder, you're looking at a very different sentencing chart and a very different set of punishments. And so the defense is already in a better position than they normally would be. Adam Conta, criminal defense attorney. Thank you for being on the noon right now. Richard, before we get away, you heard Con Edison employees shouting and cheering at the defendant on his way and out of the courthouse. They will also be gathering at 4.30 this afternoon where they will be rallying in support of Corinne Irvine. We'll also have you covered there. This is the very latest from Lower Manhattan. Back inside to you. All right, we expect the fireworks, and Antoine will be covering it for us. Thank you, Antoine.