Lithuanian court upholds acquittal of officer who fatally shot woman on duty

The Supreme Court of Lithuania (LAT) has ruled that police officer Darius Šerpytis was justifiably acquitted in the fatal shooting of a woman while on duty, LRT reports.

The court dismissed appeals from the Prosecutor General’s Office and the sons of the deceased woman, who had sought to overturn the acquittal and send the case back to the Court of Appeal. Judge Gabrielė Juodkaitė-Granskienė stated that the appeals were rejected, though the court amended earlier rulings to clarify that Šerpytis acted in the line of duty—not in self-defence—when he fired the shots.

The decision is final and cannot be appealed.

Prosecutors had argued that Šerpytis failed to exhaust all non-lethal options before using his firearm and misjudged the necessity of deadly force. They had previously sought a two-year restricted freedom sentence, a two-year ban on handling firearms, and a €2,500 payment to the Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund. However, the courts consistently upheld the acquittal.

Šerpytis maintained that he had no alternative when the woman, armed with a knife, attacked him during the December 2023 incident in Vilnius District. Lower courts found that the woman’s aggression stemmed from a psychotic episode, not the officers’ actions. Despite attempts to subdue her with tasers, batons, physical force, and pepper spray, the measures proved ineffective.

The woman’s sons had sought €100,000 in compensation (€50,000 each) from Šerpytis and the state, but the appeal court left the claim unexamined. The fatal encounter occurred after the woman, suffering from mental health issues, assaulted medics and police with a chisel and knife. Šerpytis fired five shots, killing her at the scene.