NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge sentenced
five former police officers to years in prison for the deadly shootings
on a
New Orleans bridge in the chaotic days following Hurricane Katrina
but not before lashing out at prosecutors for allowing
others involved to serve lighter penalties for their crimes. The
case that wrapped up Wednesday was the centerpiece of a Justice
Department push to clean up New Orleans' police department that
has long been tainted with corruption.
U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt
expressed frustration that he was bound by mandatory minimum sentencing
laws to imprison
former Sgts. Kenneth Bowen and Robert Gisevius and former officers
Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon for decades when other
officers who engaged in similar conduct on the Danziger Bridge —
but cut deals with prosecutors — are serving no more than
eight years behind bars.
"These through-the-looking-glass plea deals that tied the hands of this court ... are an affront to the court and a disservice
to the community," he said.
Police gunned down 17-year-old James
Brissette and 40-year-old Ronald Madison, who were both unarmed, and
wounded four others
on Sept. 4, 2005, less than a week after the storm devastated New
Orleans. To cover it up, the officers planted a gun, fabricated
witnesses and falsified reports. Defense attorneys have indicated
they will appeal.
Engelhardt also criticized prosecutors for
the different ways they charged those who didn't cooperate with a
Justice Department
civil rights investigation and those who did. The charges were
filed in such a way that they left judges with little discretion
in handing out sentences in each set of cases, Engelhardt said.
Faulcon received the stiffest sentence of 65
years. Bowen and Gisevius each got 40 years while Villavaso was
sentenced to
38. All four were convicted of federal firearms charges that
carried mandatory minimum sentences ranging from 35 to 60 years
in prison. Faulcon was convicted in both deadly shootings.
"The court imposes them purely as a matter of statutory mandate," Engelhardt said.
Retired Sgt. Arthur "Archie" Kaufman, who
was assigned to investigate the shootings, received six years in prison —
a sentence
below the federal guidelines. Kaufman wasn't charged in the
shootings but was convicted of helping orchestrate the cover-up.
During a scathing lecture that lasted roughly two hours, Engelhardt questioned the credibility of officers who cut deals and
testified against the defendants during last year's trial.
"Citing witnesses for perjury at this trial would be like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500," Engelhardt said.
Justice Department attorney Bobbi Bernstein defended prosecutors' tactics, saying the officers who cooperated with the probe
gave them the breakthrough they needed to reveal the cover-up.
"Those deals are the reason that the whole world now knows what happened on the Danziger Bridge," she said.
The sentences were significantly lower than what prosecutors had recommended. They had asked the judge to sentence the four
shooters to prison terms ranging from nearly 60 years for Villavaso to 87 years for Faulcon.
Engelhardt questioned why prosecutors sought
a 20-year prison sentence for Kaufman when Michael Lohman, who was the
highest-ranking
officer at the scene of the shooting and assigned Kaufman to
investigate, got just four years after pleading guilty to participating
in the cover-up. Engelhardt said Lohman had the authority to quash
the cover-up and didn't.
"The buck started and stopped with him," the judge said.
He also questioned why prosecutors allowed a former detective, Jeffrey Lehrmann, to receive a sentence of three years in prison
when his role in the conspiracy was similar to Kaufman's.
"These sentences are, in the court's opinion, blind," Engelhardt said.
Steve London, one of Kaufman's attorneys, said his client was pleased that the judge gave him a sentence below the guidelines,
which had called for a sentence ranging from a little over eight years to a little over 10.
"This judge recognized that the government put liars on the stand to testify and convict other people," London said.
Lindsay Larson, one of Faulcon's attorneys, said the judge "laid out the blueprint" for how defense attorneys will challenge
the firearms convictions and sentences.
"We have only just begun to fight," he said.
Tom Perez, head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said federal investigators transformed a cold case into
the "most significant police case since Rodney King."
"We didn't have a case in 2008 when we inherited this. We had nothing. And hindsight is 20/20. It is easy to look back in
hindsight and say why did you do this, why did you do that," he said. "You don't go to the witness store to pick out your
witnesses. You take what is dealt."
Engelhardt heard hours of arguments and testimony earlier Wednesday from prosecutors, defense attorneys, relatives of shooting
victims and the officers.
"This has been a long and painful six-and-a-half years," said Lance Madison, whose mentally disabled brother, Ronald, was
killed. "The people of New Orleans and my family are ready for justice."
He addressed each defendant individually,
including Faulcon, who shot his brother: "When I look at you, my pain
becomes unbearable.
You took the life of an angel and basically ripped my heart out."
Madison also said he was horrified by
Kaufman's actions and role in the cover-up: "You tried to frame me, a
man you knew was
innocent, and send me to prison for the rest of my life." Lance
Madison was arrested on attempted murder charges after police
falsely accused him of shooting at the officers on the bridge. He
was jailed for three weeks before a judge freed him.
The Rev. Robert Faulcon Sr. told the judge his son "didn't go looking for trouble."
"He was on duty and he was called to do a job, and that's what he did to the best of his ability," the elder Faulcon said.
Twenty current or former New Orleans police
officers have been charged in a series of Justice Department probes,
most of which
center on actions during the aftermath of Katrina. Eleven of those
officers were charged in the Danziger Bridge case, which
stunned a city with a long history of police corruption.
Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005, leading to
the collapse of levees and flooding an estimated 80 percent of the city.
New Orleans
was plunged into chaos as residents who hadn't evacuated were
driven from their homes to whatever high places they could find.
Officers who worked in the city at the time
but were not charged in the bridge case on Wednesday told Engelhardt of
the lawlessness
that followed the flood, and that they feared for their lives.
On the morning of Sept. 4, one group of residents was crossing the Danziger Bridge in the city's Gentilly area to what they
perceived as safety when police arrived.
The officers had received calls that shots were being fired. Gunfire reports were common after Katrina.
Faulcon was convicted of fatally shooting Madison, but the jury decided the killing didn't amount to murder. He, Gisevius,
Bowen and Villavaso were convicted in Brissette's killing, but jurors didn't hold any of them individually responsible for
causing his death.
All five were convicted of participating in a cover-up.
Wednesday's sentencing isn't the final chapter in the case. The convicted officers are expected to appeal, and Gerard Dugue,
a retired sergeant, is scheduled to be retried in May on charges stemming from his alleged role in the cover-up.