Five former New Orleans police officers have been granted reduced sentences after pleading guilty to lesser charges in the deadly Danziger Bridge shootings.
Advertisement
Four officers – Kenneth Bowen, Robert Faulcon, Robert Gisevius and Anthony Villavaso – were convicted in 2011 for their roles in the shootings, and Arthur Kaufman was convicted for his role in the cover-up of the shooting.
On September 4, 2005, six days after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, James Birssette, 17, and Ronald Madison 40, were fatally shot while trying to cross the bridge to get help.
Kaufman was convicted on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, conspiracy to violate civil rights through false prosecution, falsification of evidence to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice (concerning a firearm), false statement (concerning a firearm), falsification of victim statements, false statements regarding victims, fabrication of witnesses and false statements regarding fabricated witnesses.
Initial police accounts from the incident claimed the officers were responding to reports of gunshots on the bridge, resulting in the pursuit of six suspects. However, fast-forward almost two years later and the three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Engelhardt’s decision, setting the stage for the guilty pleas that were accepted today.
Five former police officers have pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the deadly shootings on the Danziger Bridge in the days following Hurricane Katrina.
The five entered the guilty plea in return for reduced prison time. Kaufman, involved in the cover-up of the 2005 shooting, received a 6 year sentence in 2012, while the other four received sentences of 38, 40, and 65 (for Faulcon) years in prison. He also blasted the prosecutors’ handling of the case. New sentences range from 3 to 12 years. Faulcon was also sentenced to 10 years, down from 65 years at the earlier trial.
Dr. Romell Madison, right, brother of Ronald Madison, who was gunned down by New Orleans police on the Danziger Bridge in the days following Hurricane Katrina, shakes hands with family friend Malik Rahim, as Romell’s wife hugs Madison’s brother Lance, outside federal court in New Orleans, Wednesday, April 20, 2016.
“The 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 reportedly reduces that to less than 45 years in total”. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, to be followed by up to five years of supervised release on two counts and up to three years on the third count.
A scandal involving Justice Department employees unraveled the convictions and sentences. Jim Letten resigned as USA attorney, although he was not implicated in the postings on a newspaper’s website.
Advertisement
“While an imperfect resolution, today’s proceeding ensures that these defendants are held accountable for their criminal actions”, current U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite said in a news release. That is why his administration, which took office five years after Katrina, worked with the U.S. Justice Department on a federal consent decree to reform NOPD. “Police misconduct and abuse will not be tolerated”, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said.
