Nearly five years after a federal jury found them guilty of either gunning down unarmed civilians or covering up the incident, five former New Orleans police officers pleaded guilty to the 2005 shootings on Danziger Bridge in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina.
The ex-officers - Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon, Anthony Villavaso and Arthur Kaufman - entered the guilty plea today in return for reduced prison time. In exchange, the judge cut up to 33 years off each of their sentences.
These guilty pleas herald an end to a contentious case that has lingered for a decade. On Sept. 4, 2005, six days after Hurricane Katrina left New Orleans in shambles, the officers opened fire on unarmed people on the bridge, leaving two dead and four others injured. They then tried to cover it up by planting a gun, fabricating witnesses and falsifying reports.
In 2011, they tried to argue that they were responding to a radio report of another officer getting fired at when they themselves came under fire, but after hearing from five dozen witnesses and examining 400 pieces of evidence during a month-long trial, a federal jury convicted the officers for opening fire and trying to cover it up.
The convictions were supposed to mark the end of the case, with Bowen receiving 40 years in prison, Faulcon receiving 65, Gisevius getting 40, Villavaso getting 38 and Kaufman getting six. All of the men -except for Kaufman, who was accused of being the cover-up mastermind - had direct involvement with the shootings and had started serving their sentences.
However, a scandal involving Justice Department employees in 2013 caused the convictions and sentences to be thrown out by U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt, who had presided over the original trial. He ordered a new one the same year, citing "grotesque" misconduct on the part of federal prosecutors who posted anonymous comments about the case online.
That decision prompted a back-and-forth between Engelhardt and federal prosecutors, who accused the judge of "overstepping his bounds and exaggerating the impact" of the online comments. However, fast-forward nearly 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.
As a result, Bowen had his sentence lowered to 10 years, Faulcon had his lowered to 12, Gisevius had his lowered to 10, Villavaso to seven and Kaufman to three. In addition, the plea deal calls for them to get credit for time served, meaning they could be released from prison anywhere from the next one to six years.
"It is unfortunate that New Orleans has had to relive this dark chapter in our city's history, and I hope that the decision today will allow us to finally turn the page and begin to heal. Police misconduct and abuse will not be tolerated," New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said.
Even with these plea deals, the five former officers aren't out of hot water just yet. Civil lawsuits filed by the victims' families are still ongoing.
