The five defendants in the infamous Danziger bridge shootings from Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath will serve much less jail time as a result of their guilty pleas today.
Advertisement
Two people died in the September 4, 2005, shooting: James Brissette, 17, and Ronald Madison, 40. Five former officers already have pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up to make it appear that police were justified in fatally shooting two people and wounding four others.
Former officer Robert Faulcon was sentenced to 65 years in prison; ex-Sgts. 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.
Under the new plea agreement, they will get credit for time served and majority could be released from prison anywhere from the next one to six years.
Their punishments are markedly less severe than those the officers received four years ago: While their previous sentences had carried a collective weight of more than 200 years in prison, the plea deal reduces that to less than 45 years in total. Faulcon got the most time: 65 years for “killing [a] mentally ill man with a shotgun blast to the back”, as the Two-Way reported back in 2012. He also blasted the prosecutors’ handling of the case. The former officer out on bond is expected to see his sentence reduced from six years to three. They then tried to cover it up by planting a gun, fabricating witnesses and falsifying reports.
Four cops were convicted of the shootings – Robert Gisevius, Kenneth Bowen, Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon. Five former New Orleans police officers are expected to enter pleas to reduced charges in the deadly shootings on a bridge in the days that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Lance Madison, who was with his brother Ronald when he was killed and who was falsely arrested that day, said he and his family are still suffering. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 12 years. All of the men -except for Kaufman, who was accused of being the cover-up mastermind – had direct involvement with the shootings and had started serving their sentences. Civil lawsuits filed by the victims’ families against the former officers are still ongoing, as the local news site NOLA.com reminds us.
U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt, who originally ordered the new trial, oversaw the deal, which shaved decades from the former officers’ original sentences. Engelhardt cited misconduct by prosecutors and all defendants had been awaiting a retrial. “As well as the negotiated sentencing terms”, U.S. Attorney Ken Polite told press Wednesday. “Police misconduct and abuse will not be tolerated”, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said.
Former New Orleans Police Former Sgt. Arthur Kaufman arrives at Federal Court in New Orleans, Wednesday, April 20, 2016.
Advertisement
“One day, maybe soon, we will have a police department as great as the city it serves”, Engelhardt said.
