LI CRIME BRIEFS

NASSAU COUNTY/Judge upholds cop killer's prison sentence

Just days after a parole board denied a Nassau County cop killer's bid for freedom, a county judge has rejected a separate attempt by the killer to be released from prison.

John MacKenzie had petitioned Judge David P. Sullivan to vacate a 25-years-to-life prison sentence on the grounds that the state Division of Parole was wrongly enforcing the sentence.

MacKenzie, imprisoned for the 1975 shooting death of Patrolman Matthew Giglio, was denied last week, for the sixth time in a decade and has served nearly 35 years.

In an order dated Monday, Sullivan denied MacKenzie's motion, ruling that the sentence was lawfully imposed and the provision of the law MacKenzie cited could be used only if a sentence was "invalid as a matter of law."

"The PBA is happy with the decision that Judge Sullivan made, which continues to keep MacKenzie in jail," said James Carver, president of the Nassau Police Benevolent Association, the rank-and-file officers' union. - MATTHEW CHAYES

BAY SHORE/Five men arrested after home invasion

Five men are under arrest, each charged with first-degree burglary, after a home invasion on Mowbray Avenue in Bay Shore, Suffolk County police said Tuesday.

Deputy Insp. Gerard McCarthy said the incident may be related to the April 29 disappearance of Jennifer Poole, 39, who lived there.

McCarthy said the men went to the home to inquire about Poole's whereabouts. One was a friend of Poole's, McCarthy said.

"I think he thought somebody in the house may have known something," he said.

Poole had lived at the home for about two months, McCarthy said.

They have not identified those arrested. - JOHN VALENTI