2 Officers' Lawyers Want Charges Dropped

[warpedskydiver 0]

2 Officers' Lawyers Want Charges Dropped
Thursday, January 4, 2007 6:01 AM EST
The Associated Press
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two New Orleans police officers charged in a deadly shooting in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath say the district attorney reneged on a deal granting them partial immunity in exchange for their testimony before a grand jury.

Attorneys for both asked a judge on Wednesday to throw out the murder and attempted murder charges against their clients.

A grand jury last week indicted the two officers and five others in the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings on the Danziger Bridge that killed two men and wounded four other people.

Officer Ignatius Hills and Sgt. Kenneth Bowen were assured their grand jury testimony about the shooting wouldn't be used against them, their attorneys maintain in court papers. District Attorney Eddie Jordan reneged on the deal, they argue.

"Officer Hills submits that this flagrant, direct and improper use of his immunized testimony requires this court to quash the indictment against him and order him released," attorney Bruce Whittaker wrote in court papers. Hills is charged with attempted second-degree murder.

Bowen initially invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when he appeared before the grand jury in October, attorney Frank DeSalvo said in his motion. Jordan's office later sought a court order compelling Bowen to testify in exchange for partial immunity, he said.

"The state cannot meet its heavy burden of proving that all of the evidence it proposes to use was derived from legitimate, independent sources separate and apart from Bowen's grand jury testimony," DeSalvo wrote.

Bowen was indicted on a first-degree murder charge after testifying before the grand jury for about five hours.

Officer Mike Hunter Jr. is the only other indicted officer who testified before the grand jury. His attorney, Townsend Myers, was out of town Wednesday and hadn't filed a similar motion.

Dalton Savwoir, a spokesman for Jordan, declined to comment on the motions except to say, "It's normally the job of the defense attorneys to keep a case from going to court."

Bowen, Sgt. Robert Gisevius Jr., officer Anthony Villavaso II and former officer Robert Faulcon Jr., are charged with first-degree murder. Hunter and Officer Robert Barrios are charged with attempted first-degree murder.

The officers were to be arraigned Friday.

Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old mentally retarded man, and James Brissette, 19, were shot and killed by police on the bridge.

Police say the officers were responding to a report of other officers being attacked when they came under fire. Police also claim Madison was reaching for a gun.

Madison's brother, Lance, denies he or his brother was armed. He said they were running from a group of teens who had opened fire on the bridge when seven men jumped out of a rental truck and also shot at them without warning.

[warpedskydiver 0]

NOPD at their best eh?

"good ole boys" that means they are hired murderers down there in NOPD speak.

A deceased relative of mine that lived there all his life claimed the entire NOPD should not have one bullet between the entire bunch of them.

I think he knew what he was talking about.

His grocery store was once robbed by an off duty NOPD officer.

BAD IDEA.

[akarunway 1]

Quote

NOPD at their best eh?

"good ole boys" that means they are hired murderers down there in NOPD speak.

A deceased relative of mine that lived there all his life claimed the entire NOPD should not have one bullet between the entire bunch of them.

I think he knew what he was talking about.

His grocery store was once robbed by an off duty NOPD officer.

BAD IDEA.

I lived down there late 70's early 80's. Had the pleasure of having the fuck beat outta me by NOPD and spent 30 days in their fine jail. (no phone calls, no lawyer, no arraignment, no nothing. Pled to a misdemeanor just to get out. Court in the middle of the nite on the 30th day. FBI came in and started a big stink after NOPD shot someone to death w/ no cause shortly after. They'll walk. Watch. Cops take care of their own

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[warpedskydiver 0]

NOPD justice being dished out.

Just like the way they protected everyones "inalieble rights, that were endowed by our creator."

[Amazon 7]

Quote

Quote

NOPD at their best eh?

"good ole boys" that means they are hired murderers down there in NOPD speak.

A deceased relative of mine that lived there all his life claimed the entire NOPD should not have one bullet between the entire bunch of them.

I think he knew what he was talking about.

His grocery store was once robbed by an off duty NOPD officer.

BAD IDEA.

I lived down there late 70's early 80's. Had the pleasure of having the fuck beat outta me by NOPD and spent 30 days in their fine jail. (no phone calls, no lawyer, no arraignment, no nothing. Pled to a misdemeanor just to get out. Court in the middle of the nite on the 30th day. FBI came in and started a big stink after NOPD shot someone to death w/ no cause shortly after. They'll walk. Watch. Cops take care of their own

Maybe not....it looks like some of them are coming clean after all.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20100407/pl_usnw/DC83061

According to admissions the defendant made in a factual basis filed in court today, Hunter drove to the bridge on Sept. 4, 2005, in a large Budget rental truck carrying officers in response to a radio call that said officers on the nearby I-10 high-rise bridge had come under fire. In his factual basis, Hunter acknowledges the details of the shootings on the east side of the bridge, which resulted in the death of one civilian and serious injury to others. According to Hunter, officers fired at civilians even though the civilians did not appear to have any weapons. According to Hunter, one officer (referred to only as Sergeant A) at one point leaned over a concrete barrier, held out an assault rifle, and, in a sweeping motion, fired repeatedly at the civilians, who were at that point lying wounded and apparently unarmed on the ground.

Hunter also admits in his factual basis that he fired his weapon repeatedly at civilians who were running away over the bridge. He further admits that he did not see any weapons on these civilians, and that the civilians did not appear to pose a threat to officers as they ran up the bridge.

According to the factual basis, which the defendant admitted was true, Hunter was also present on the west side of the bridge when an officer, identified only as Officer A, shot and killed Ronald Madison, who was running away from officers with his hands in view, and did not have a weapon or pose a threat. Without warning, an officer fired a shotgun at Madison's back as Madison ran toward a motel at the bottom of the bridge. Hunter also describes having watched as the officer identified as Sergeant A physically abused Ronald Madison as Madison lay on the ground, injured but still alive.

Hunter admitted in court today that, in the wake of the shootings on the bridge, he participated in a conspiracy to cover up the truth about what had happened on the bridge. Specifically, he admitted, among other things, that he and other officers provided false statements about what happened on the bridge; that before giving formal statements on tape, he and other officers met in a gutted-out police station and discussed their false stories; and that he lied to a state grand jury about what happened on the Danziger Bridge.

[funjumper101 15]

Quote

NOPD at their best eh?

"good ole boys" that means they are hired murderers down there in NOPD speak.

A deceased relative of mine that lived there all his life claimed the entire NOPD should not have one bullet between the entire bunch of them.

I think he knew what he was talking about.

His grocery store was once robbed by an off duty NOPD officer.

BAD IDEA.

In 1993, in a bar on Bourbon Street, in the middle of a weekday, I watched a NOPD Officer come in and stand by the cash register. The bartender was serving a drink to a customer at the other end of the bar. The cop got tired of waiting and swung his billy club from his waist (he didn't unclip it) and knocked it against the bar. The sound got the attention of the bartender, who rushed over to the cash register, rang up a "no sale" and pulled out a big handful of 20s and handed them over to the cop. The cop walked out of the bar, onto the street, and divied the money between himself and two other cops that were waiting outside. This was done in broad daylight, with no attempt to conceal anything. I was amazed. When I asked the bartender if I just saw what I thought I saw, he asked, "what did you think you saw? I told him that he had handed over a cash bribe to a cop, and that the cop had then gone and distributed the bribe to his colleagues. The bartender said "Yup, you saw what you think you saw." I asked, if the cops were really that corrupt and he said, "This heres nawlins. Things are done different here."

There was plenty of reporting on the armed guards on the bridges preventing the poor black folks from leaving the city after Katrina. The white suburban police weren't about to allow those people into their towns. They were forced back at gunpoint. Reports of shots fired weren't uncommon. I am surprised that ANY cop was charged with anything, in the state of Louisiana.

[dorbie 0]

I thought they'd already gotten off scott free. Apparently not, good.

It was a cold blooded murder + coverup.

From memory the killers walked and some other assholes who helped cover it up with a planted weapon & testimony got prosecuted.

Chickens comming home to roost for murderers with badges is a good thing

It must be tough for murdering scum to discover that the courts are almost as malleable as they are when you're guilty as all hell and everyone knows it. I doubt anyone is going to give a rats ass over nuanced procedural evidence generation issues in Louisiana once they're sent away, except the guilty.