Five former New Orleans police officers were sentenced Wednesday to prison terms ranging from six to 65 years for their roles in deadly shootings of residents on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina. Four of the former officers were convicted of firearms charges in the shootings. Another, assigned to investigate the shootings, was convicted of helping orchestrate a cover-up.
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Ex-New Orleans officers sentenced to decades in jail for Katrina bridge killings, cover-up
By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, April 4, 3:59 PM
Afterward, U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt accused prosecutors of cutting overly lenient plea deals with five other officers who cooperated with the civil rights investigation. The former officers pleaded guilty to helping cover up the shooting and are already serving prison terms ranging from three to eight years.
“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,” Engelhardt said.
The judge also questioned the credibility of the officers who pleaded guilty and testified against those who went to trial.
“Citing witnesses for perjury at this trial would be like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500,” Engelhardt said.
In particular, the judge criticized prosecutors for seeking a 20-year prison sentence for Kaufman, yet Michael Lohman, who was the highest-ranking officer at the scene of the shooting, received four years under his deal for pleading guilty to participating in the cover-up.
Engelhardt also questioned about how a former detective, Jeffrey Lehrmann, received a lighter sentence of three years when his role in the conspiracy was similar to Kaufman’s, who got six.
“These sentences are, in the court’s opinion, blind,” Engelhardt said.
One of Kaufman’s attorneys, Steve London, said his client was pleased the judge sentenced him to a few years less than the guidelines, which had called for about eight to 10.
“This judge recognized that the government put liars on the stand to testify and convict other people,” London said.
Engelhardt heard several hours of arguments and testimony earlier Wednesday from prosecutors, defense attorneys, relatives of shooting victims and the officers. Ronald Madison and 17-year-old James Brissette died in the shootings.
“This has been a long and painful six-and-a-half years,” said Lance Madison, whose 40-year-old, mentally disabled brother, Ronald, was killed at the bridge. “The people of New Orleans and my family are ready for justice.”
Madison individually addressed each defendant, 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.”
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.
None of the officers addressed the court before they were sentenced.
A total of 20 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 in search of food and supplies 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 officers 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.
Bowen, Gisevius and Villavaso have been fired. Faulcon quit the force shortly after the storm. Kaufman retired before last year’s trial.
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5 ex-cops convicted in Danziger Bridge police shootings await sentencing
Published: Tuesday, April 03, 2012, 11:00 PM Updated: Wednesday, April 04, 2012, 11:11 AM
The five former New Orleans police officers convicted last summer in the unjustified shootings of unarmed civilians on the Danziger Bridge and a subsequent cover-up are set to be sentenced Wednesday morning in federal court. Four of them are facing sentences that, by law, will stretch at least three decades.
Times-Picayune archive imagesFive former New Orleans police officers will be sentenced Wednesday for their parts in the Danziger Bridge case. They are, from top left: Kenneth Bowen, Robert Faulcon, Robert Gisevius, Arthur Kaufman and Anthony Villavaso.Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius and Anthony Villavaso will be put behind bars for at least 35 years, according to sentencing guidelines tied to their gun and civil rights convictions. Meanwhile, Robert Faulcon, the only officer tied to the second of the two fatal shootings on the bridge that day — that of Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old mentally challenged man — faces a sentence of at least 65 years in prison.
Arthur “Archie” Kaufman, who was not involved in the shootings but was convicted of coordinating a broad police cover-up, will spend significantly less time in prison than his peers.
The five defendants were convicted in August after a seven-week trial that explored one of the city’s most traumatic events following Hurricane Katrina. Police shot six civilians, two fatally, on Sept. 4, 2005, on and near the bridge, which spans the Industrial Canal and connects Gentilly and eastern New Orleans. James Brissette, 17, and Madison were killed, while Susan Bartholomew, her husband Leonard, teenage daughter Lesha and nephew Jose Holmes Jr. were wounded.
Police portrayed the injured and dead civilians as criminals. Madison’s brother, Lance, was arrested for allegedly firing at officers and jailed for weeks, though the case was eventually dropped.
Years later, a federal civil rights probe flipped that narrative on its head. Investigators discovered that police planted evidence, fabricated witnesses, faked reports, framed Madison, lied repeatedly and engaged in a brazen cover-up that persisted for years.
A federal jury found the officers guilty on virtually every point, save for the prosecutors’ contention that shootings amounted to murder.
This morning in federal court, prosecutors and defense attorneys will once again debate aspects of their case before U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt. Prosecutors are expected to push for prison sentences beyond the mandatory minimum, while attorneys for the former officers will lobby for leniency. Relatives of the shooting victims, as well as colleagues of the convicted officers, are expected to testify before the judge imposes the sentences.
Alex Brandon, The Times-Picayune archiveOn Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, Lance Madison is detained by police at the Danziger Bridge. Engelhardt has set strict time limits on how long people may testify, and it remains unclear who will address the court. Court filings indicate that Lance Madison intends to speak on behalf of the Madison family. Also, Bowen’s attorney indicated that she intends to call several current and former police supervisors to talk of the rescue work Bowen and others did in the week between the hurricane and the shootings.
The witnesses, if they are called, will testify about the horrors they saw and the severe emotional and physical toll inflicted upon them, according to federal public defender Robin Schulberg.
“They would speak about mothers offering up their babies to passing rescuers who could not stop for fear that other people in the crowd would take their vehicles, about getting little sleep at night for fear of incursions,” Schulberg wrote.
Further, two NOPD captains “who played leading roles in NOPD’s Katrina response would testify about the lack of leadership from central command and what that failure meant for officers like Mr. Bowen who were on the front lines.”
Bowen, Gisevius, Villavaso and Faulcon, who left the NOPD in late 2005, have all been jailed without bond since the indictment was unsealed in July 2010. Kaufman, a retired sergeant, has been out on bond.
Bowen and Gisevius, both sergeants, and Villavaso, an officer, were formally fired by the NOPD last week. They had been suspended in the wake of the charges, and the NOPD’s internal disciplinary procedure just recently came to a close.
A final defendant, Gerard Dugue, a retired sergeant, is scheduled to go to trial in May on charges related to his alleged role in the cover-up.
Five former NOPD officers pleaded guilty and testified for the government at trial, receiving more lenient sentences as a result. Michael Hunter received an eight-year sentence; Ignatius Hills, six and a half years; Robert Barrios, five years; Michael Lohman, four years; and Jeffrey Lehrmann, three years.
Brendan McCarthy can be reached at bmccarthy@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3301.
Ann
I am glad justice has been served and these officers are going to jail. The article says “Police portrayed the injured and dead civilians as criminals.” This sounds similiar to them trying to portray Trayvon Martin as the criminal instead of George Zimmerman.