Back in 2005, four New Orleans police officers opened fire on two groups of unarmed civilians fleeing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Two people were killed, and four others were wounded. The cops, along with a detective who tried to cover up the massacre, were all convicted in 2011 and sentenced to lengthy terms in prison. However, after the discovery of some of the most outrageous prosecutorial misconduct ever uncovered in an American courtroom, the sentences were all thrown out. On Wednesday, the four former cops pleaded guilty in return for sharply reduced sentences.
The four officers involved in the shooting–Kenneth Bowen, Robert Faulcon, Robert Gisevius, and Anthony Villavaso–originally received sentences ranging from 38 years to 65 years for their crimes. Archie Kaufman, who investigated the case, got six years for his role in the cover-up. However, in 2013, federal judge Kurt Engelhardt threw out the verdicts and ordered a new trial after discovering that two federal prosecutors and a Justice Department official engaged in high-tech witness intimidation and jury tampering.
Specifically, they used anonymous accounts on NOLA.com, the Website of The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune, to attack the defendants and urge them to plead guilty. They also posted running commentary on the trial that could have easily been seen by jurors before and during the case. Engelhardt was particularly angered that Dobinski was involved, since she was supposed to ensure that Bowen’s testimony before a state grand jury wasn’t used improperly. You simply cannot tolerate that in a criminal trial, and Engelhardt’s only option was to toss out the verdicts.
The Justice Department appealed, but last summer an appeals court sided with Engelhardt, finding that the prosecutors had created a “mob mentality” against the defendants. However, on Tuesday night, The New Orleans Advocate reported that the five officers had reached a deal with prosecutors in which they would plead guilty in return for sharply reduced sentences.
That agreement was unsealed on Wednesday morning. All five officers admitted to “willful disregard” of the victims’ constitutional rights. They pleaded guilty to deprivation of rights under color of law for their roles in the deaths of James Brissette and Ronald Madison, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and various individual acts of obstructing justice. In return, they were each handed sentences that were less than half of what was originally meted out in 2011.
- Faulcon: 12 years (down from 65 years)
- Bowen: 10 years (down from 40 years)
- Gisevius: 10 years (down from 40 years)
- Villavaso: Seven years (down from 38 years)
- Kaufman: Three years (down from six years)
All of the defendants got credit for time served, as well as five years’ supervised release. Engelhardt said their actions “marred the standing” of all of the good cops on the NOPD, and hoped that New Orleans would eventually have “a police department as great as the city it serves.”
Gisevius and Kaufman were the only defendants to apologize to the victims of the massacre; they did so through their lawyers. However, outside the courtroom, Gisevius’ lawyer, Eric Hessler, said that while his client “sincerely” wanted a new trial, potential witnesses were so frightened of being intimidated again that “we simply couldn’t regain their confidence to testify.”
Apparently New Orleans’ federal prosecutors still haven’t gotten the hint. The previous lead prosecutor in this massacre, Bobbi Bernstein, was yanked off the case in April–apparently because she knew about her colleagues’ shenanigans and didn’t tell Engelhardt about it. Her boss, U. S. Attorney Ken Polite, who has worked to restore the office’s reputation, tacitly acknowledged his office had lost its way, saying that federal prosecutors must work to ensure that “justice and fairness reign for all parties involved, at all times.”
Polite said it better than anyone else could have. It was clear not just beyond reasonable doubt, but ALL doubt, that these cops were responsible for this massacre. They deserved every minute of the sentences that were originally handed down. However, no one is below the law–not even cops who abuse their badges. As critical as Engelhardt was of the cops, he should have lashed out at the prosecutors. After all, the biggest reason the victims had to endure this again is because these prosecutors thought it was acceptable to shred the Constitution.
