February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Ray O’Hanlon
Former New York police officer Richard Molloy failed in a recent bid to secure parole. Molloy was sentenced in May 1999 to a 4-to-12-year term for the killing of Derry native Heslin “Hessy” Phelan in a Bronx apartment in January 1996.
He had been convicted in a non-jury trial in Bronx State Supreme Court of second-degree manslaughter.
Molloy had protested his innocence during the six-week trial. His defense rested on the contention that Phelan, who had been drinking heavily prior to his death, had grabbed his (Molly’s) service weapon and killed himself.
The presiding judge decided that it was Molloy who had fired the fatal shot after he and Phelan had argued.
A spokeswoman for the New York State division of parole confirmed that Molloy had recently secured a preliminary parole hearing but had been unsuccessful in his early bid for freedom.
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Molloy would likely have a second parole hearing early in 2003, the spokeswoman said.