3 officers plead not guilty in Katrina shootings

[kpete]

Source: Talking Points Memo

3 officers plead not guilty in Katrina shootings

3 New Orleans police officers plead not guilty in shootings of 2 on bridge after Katrina

MARY FOSTER
AP News

Jul 14, 2010 15:40 EDT

Three officers pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the shooting deaths of two unarmed residents on a New Orleans bridge in the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina.

Sgts. Robert Gisevius and Kenneth Bowen and Officer Anthony Villavaso stood before a federal magistrate in green prison garb, shackled at the waist and ankles. They will remain jailed at least until a hearing Friday.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office said the Justice Department hasn't decided whether to seek the death penalty against them and former officer Robert Faulcon, who was arrested in Texas on Tuesday and has not entered a plea.

The case is one of several probes of alleged misconduct by New Orleans police officers that the Justice Department opened after the August 2005 storm.



Read more: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2010/07/3_officers_plead_not_guilty_in_katrina_shootings.php

[superconnected]

1. Wow, and it took this long to get to trial?

"Two civilians died on the Danziger Bridge that day, four others lay on the hot cement bleeding, and one man was handcuffed and forced to kneel as his brother died."