“which included accessing the National Crime Information Center’s database from his NYPD patrol car computer”
There’s the ‘catch’. If it was unauthorized use then that is why he was found guilty. If he had authorized access to the database then he is not guilty.
But we all knew that the thought police were avid already. It is another nail in the coffin.
You don’t get life in prison for unauthorized computer access. That sentence is for the conspiracy conviction.