Witnesses a no-show, ex-cop gets off

An ex-cop who was fired last year after he was charged with assaulting his police-officer wife and shooting a gun off in their house was found not guilty of all charges at a bench trial today when the main witnesses in the case - his wife and daughter - failed to appear for court.

James Timms, who had 14 years with the department and was stationed out of the 35th District at Broad Street near Champlost, had been accused of punching his wife, who is also a cop, and slamming her head on the floor of their Germantown home on Jan. 2, 2013.

Authorities further alleged that Timms, 42, then took his wife's service weapon and fired it at the ceiling of the couple's home while threatening to commit suicide.

He was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and related offenses last January and was suspended by police Commissioner Charles Ramsey with the intent to dismiss in 30 days.

A police spokeswoman confirmed today that Timms had been fired and that his wife still works for the department.

I was actually in Judge Gwendolyn Bright's courtroom awaiting another case when Timms, his attorney and the prosecutor were brought before the judge to wrap up the bench trial.

Timms' attorney, Qawi Abdul Rahman, argued that Timms' wife had sustained her facial injuries from a fall. The prosecutor asked the judge to take the testimony of the responding officers into consideration, since the witnesses in the case hadn't shown up.

Tasha Jamerson, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, said Timms' wife ignored multiple subpoenas to appear in court and was "uncooperative" from the beginning of the case.

Remember - Timms' wife is a cop, who is ignoring subpoenas.

Jamerson said Timms' 18-year-old daughter, who was a witness at his preliminary hearing, also ignored subpoenas to appear in court.

When Bright rendered her not-guilty verdict, she referenced the fact that it was unfortunate that the prosecution's witnesses had failed to appear. Timms, who had multiple supporters in the gallery, put his head in his hands and breathed a sigh of relief, while his supporters praised God.

Timms' was one of several officers included in a Daily News package about domestic violence and police officers that ran in September.

According to that story by my colleagues,164 Philly cops have had domestic-abuse complaints filed against them in the last five years but only 11 of those officers have been fired and criminally charged. Of those 11, only three have been convicted.