Judge Drastically Reduces Jail Time For Officers Who Shot Unarmed People Fleeing Hurricane Katrina

[babylonsister]

Judge Drastically Reduces Jail Time For Officers Who Shot Unarmed People Fleeing Hurricane Katrina

by Aviva Shen Apr 20, 2016 1:45 pm


The people on the bridge were unarmed and frightened, fleeing homes left uninhabitable by Hurricane Katrina. Suddenly, a squad of plainclothes police officers drove up and opened fire, killing two and wounding four. The officers later conspired to cover up the whole affair with planted evidence and fabricated stories.

The officers on New Orleans’ Danziger Bridge that day in 2005 were sentenced back in 2011 to decades in prison. But earlier this year, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed their guilty verdicts to be overturned, paving the way for a new trial on the basis that federal prosecutors anonymously commented on stories about the case online.

On Wednesday, the former officers struck a deal with prosecutors that allowed them to plead guilty to lesser charges and significantly reduce their time behind bars. U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt ruled in favor of the deal’s terms, sentencing defendants to 3 to 12 years.

“Hopefully today will bring further closure to the victims of these crimes and this city,” he said.

Engelhardt who originally ordered the new trial, oversaw the deal, which shaved decades from the former officers’ original sentences. The deal cut 40-year sentences for Kenneth Bowen and Robert Gisevius, Jr. to ten years each with credit for time served. Robert Faulcon, Jr., who was facing the lengthiest sentence at 65 years, subsequently faced 12 years with credit for time served. Anthony Villavaso and Arthur Kaufman, who were serving 38 years and six years respectively, got seven and three years. All the officers will also get five years of supervised release.

The former officers have been locked up for almost six years, and are now decades closer to release.

more...

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/04/20/3771208/danziger-bridge-resentencing/

[raging moderate]

1. This is not the only such story to come out of that Katrina aftermath!

Every time I turn around, more white people have committed atrocities against more Black people. If you are wondering why I capitalized the word Black, it is to honor their courage. And to wake up my own fellow "white" people to this nightmare. This has to stop.

[Quantess]

2. This is horrible.

But, it appears as though 2 of the officers are black. I find that puzzling.

[KamaAina]

4. From Bonfire of the Vanities:

"Their black skin hid the fact that they had turned Irish." (Irish being the prevailing ethnicity in the NYPD for many decades)

[joeybee12]

3. Sucks, but at least they'll serve...

They were scheduled for a new trial, and the sentences might have been overturned...never can tell in a jury trial. All I really recall from this was the dismissal of the NOLA PD when people tried to get to the truth of this...of course they dismissed the notion, they were busy covering it up.

[gratuitous]

5. "Closure to the victims"

I note that Judge Engelhardt didn't specify who those "victims" were. The folks shot dead on the Danziger Bridge? The federal prosecutors who couldn't keep their anonymous yaps shut about the case until they secured a conviction (even though there was no evidence their comments affected the trial of the officers or its outcome)? The officers who decided to gun down flood victims just as they were about to get away from the catastrophe, and then planted evidence and lied about it?

Because I have to say, if it had been my friends or relatives killed that day by these trigger-happy lying fucks, I sure as hell wouldn't consider cutting a 40-year sentence down to 10 years "closure."