Bro pleads to keep cop slayer in jail

THE NYPD’s top lawyer, whose rookie cop brother was assassinated by a blood-thirsty drug kingpin, appeared before the state parole board Friday to oppose the release of one of the killers.

Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters Lawrence Byrne argued that one of 22-yearold Officer Edward Byrne’s killers, Phillip Copeland — the mastermind of the 1998 Queens hit — should not be released because he continues to deny involvement and has never expressed remorse.

“We hope that the parole board will once again, for the third time, deny him parole,” Byrne said during his victim-impact statement in Midtown. “I’ll be back every two years for as long as they’re up for parole to oppose this. People have to get the message that if you kill a cop you’re going to prison and never getting out.”

Copeland, 51, will have a chance to make his case for parole during a hearing in November.