New Orleans Police Officers Plead Not Guilty In Katrina Shootings, Cover-Up

NEW ORLEANS — Three police officers charged in the killing of two unarmed residents on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina and a cover-up that followed pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.

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. A tentative trial date is set for Sept. 13.

Magistrate Louis Moore Jr. read the counts – 13 against Bowen, 11 against Gisevius and 10 against Villavaso. Former officer Robert Faulcon made his initial court appearance Tuesday in Texas, where he was arrested, but has not entered a plea.

The charges against the four carry a maximum sentence of life in prison or the death penalty, although U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said the Justice Department hasn't decided whether to seek the latter punishment.

The family of two victims – Ronald Madison, who was killed, and his brother, Lance, who survived – sat in the front row of the packed courtroom. Gisevius cried quietly as he stood with his lawyer.

"We'll be able to pick this indictment apart," said Frank DeSalvo, Bowen's lawyer. "There is a lot of fantasy there."

Bowen, Gisevius and Villavaso were suspended without pay after the indictments were released Tuesday, NOPD spokesman Bob Young said on Wednesday.

Five former officers already have pleaded guilty to charges they helped cover up the shootings. Prosecutors have said police fabricated witnesses, falsified reports and plotted to plant a gun to make it appear that the shootings were justified.

The shootings at the Danziger Bridge happened Sept. 4, 2005, six days after Hurricane Katrina smashed levees and left the city flooded and in chaos. Bodies floated in filthy flood waters. There were reports of looting and gunshots rang out throughout the blacked-out city.

It was in this backdrop that police, desperate to regain control, were called about 9 a.m. that morning after reports of gunfire at the bridge.

Seven heavily armed New Orleans police officers stormed the bridge. Prosecutors said they shot at the first people they saw, people they say were crossing the bridge to find food.

When it was over, two men were dead and four others lay wounded on the hot concrete.

The indictment claims Faulcon shot mentally disabled Ronald Madison, 40, in the back as he ran away on the west side of the bridge. Bowen is charged with stomping and kicking Madison while he was lying on the ground, wounded but still alive.

Madison's brother, Lance, was arrested and charged with trying to kill police officers. He was jailed for three weeks before being released without indictment.

Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon and Villavaso also are accused of shooting at an unarmed family on the east side of the bridge, killing 17-year-old James Brissette and wounding four others.

Sgt. Arthur Kaufman and retired Sgt. Gerard Dugue, who helped investigate the shootings, were charged with participating in the alleged cover-up. Charges against them include obstruction of justice.

Kaufman and Bowen "specifically discussed using Hurricane Katrina to excuse failures in the investigation, and thereby to help make any inquiry into the shooting go away," the indictment states.

Kaufman allegedly took a gun from his home and claimed to have found it at the crime scene a day after the shootings, then lied about that gun under oath and in reports, prosecutors said.

Dugue is accused of lying to a federal agent when he said he had no concerns about the truth of the officers' statements.

"In fact, he had many 'red flags' and 'question marks' about the officers' stories, but he reported the questionable information as fact and relied upon it without qualification," the indictment says.

The charges, unsealed Tuesday, are the culmination of a two-year probe by the federal government. An internal police investigation found no wrongdoing by officers. A state grand jury convened to look into the matter charged seven officers with murder or attempted murder, but a state judge threw out all the charges in 2008.

Comments

[phylliscooper1]

12:21 AM on 07/16/2010

A psychology professor I had in college taught that anti-social personality types are disproportionately attracted to law enforcement, the clergy, and politics.

[Reader 1]

11:11 PM on 07/15/2010

Not guilty? Course not. Suicide. That's what happened on that bridge your honor. Honest.

[mrmikes]

10:53 PM on 07/15/2010

Not (feeling) guilty.

[laborgrunt]

10:46 PM on 07/15/2010

I hope the Feds go after the NOPD Internal Affairs unit for clearing this thugs.

[Vernie31]

09:04 PM on 07/15/2010

“America, These are the Terrorist in our neighborhoods all across this great land. They usually come dressed in blue claiming to protect & serve. They are neither protecting or serving anyone there. Do you think we could get some troops to protect "US" Men,Women Children and Seniors from these SAVAGE ACTS? Do ya think you could give us a HAND?”

[huffyISaHottie]

01:59 PM on 07/15/2010

it's in their training folks,,,police are trained that the average citizen is a criminal just waiting to happen and that we are not worthy of respect....law enforcement as it is today has no intention of serving the public

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

02:29 PM on 07/15/2010

Agreed. I dated a guy I was crazy about.... and we dated for a while. He felt he could make more money if he became a police officer.... and came back from the "academy" the biggest a-hole I ever met. He told me about the "training" which was a series of frat boy humiliating behavior berating one another and targeting the weakest... he was a pretty skinny guy. I was simply appalled.

When he came back... he was not even close to the man I knew before he left.....he was just another coward with a gun....looking to "catch" somebody... looking to victimize somebody....just looking in a state with almost NO crime. The relationship immediately was over. Very sad because he was a pretty cool guy.

[funkyou]

04:36 PM on 07/15/2010

Sorry to hear that...but you are so fanned and faved for this and all your other comments that I whole heartedly agree with.

[betito]

06:29 PM on 07/15/2010

i applaud you for exposeing the truth.!? fanned! 117

[Pero]

10:08 AM on 07/15/2010

The policemen were African-Americans and executed civilians were white? Can this possibly be true?

[funkyou]

04:45 PM on 07/15/2010

You know it couldn't possibly be true. There'd have been a national uprising!!
Just like they are doing right now with that ONE crazy "black panther" that Focks News has been parading about to try and show how "racist" we all are and how bad the white folks have it because he exists and is talking chit.

[SFkid]

05:22 PM on 07/15/2010

No, the victims were black and a few officers were black as well as white.

[Lore Splitt]

07:19 AM on 07/15/2010

A documentary was done on Katrina, and it showed that people on the bridge, trying to flee to safety, were turned away by people with guns drawn. As people died, they left them on the side of the road.

Do I think people were shot as they tried to get to shelter, food, clean water? Absolutely I can believe it. The NO residents were treated the way animals to the slaughter are treated. It was disgusting and appalling that news crews made it there almost over night, and the National Guard took how long? Perhaps if they didn't feel abandoned by their country they wouldn't have fled.

Or, to the point, if they had people there assisting an evacuation for the people who made it that far, they would have been allowed to cross the bridge, and given the aid they need.

[xlntcat]

03:47 AM on 07/15/2010

Corruption within the state of Louisiana on all levels is considered a tradition. Illinois is a novice. Think Haiti and you have Louisiana.

[Sons]

02:11 AM on 07/15/2010

During Katrina there were videos of cops stealing from homes with guns drawn, and drawing guns on news people who caught up with them. The shootings of innocent civilians fits right into this pattern.

These cops are dirty and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But New Orleans Police Department is not an exception. Police Departments nationwide should be reviewed by the Justice Department for violence against citizens, false arrests, planting evidence and much more.

There are good departments to be sure. But there are also many mismanaged, corrupt and dangerous departments - large and small. Many cops feel they are above the law. Or they ARE the law. They know citizens with their excessive fears of crime, will get cops operate any way they want.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

02:34 PM on 07/15/2010

If cops can get away with running over civilians TWICE in Vermont (a pretty progressive state) while speeding through a rural town at 100 mph at midnight.... ... then cops all over the US can get away with.... murder.

Haven't seen a "good" department yet... from small towns to large cities. But let me know if you find one.

[Paul S]

01:40 AM on 07/15/2010

the death penalty is a joke...you're dead, how are you suffering or paying for your crime? Life in solitary confinement or life in a hard labor camp is a much more painful and dreadful sentence. And don't give me this BS about having to pay for taking care of the criminals for life. If we stopped jailing people for non violent drug offenses and focused on real criminals we would save alot of money.

[xlntcat]

03:25 AM on 07/15/2010

Life in solitary confinement means that you have to pay to support the criminal his remaining life time.

[robpmgc]

03:57 AM on 07/15/2010

• In Kansas, the costs of capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-capital cases, including the costs of incarceration.
(Kansas Performance Audit Report, December 2003).
• In Indiana, the total costs of the death penalty exceed the complete costs of life without parole sentences by about 38%, assuming
that 20% of death sentences are overturned and reduced to life. (Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission, January 10, 2002).
• The most comprehensive study in the country found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million per execution over the
costs of sentencing murderers to life imprisonment. The majority of those costs occur at the trial level. (Duke University, May 1993).
• Enforcing the death penalty costs Florida $51 million a year above what it would cost to punish all first-degree murderers with life in
prison without parole. Based on the 44 executions Florida had carried out since 1976, that amounts to a cost of $24 million for each
execution. (Palm Beach Post, January 4, 2000).
• In Texas, a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at
the highest security level for 40 years. (Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1992).
http://greensboropeerpressure.blogspot.com/2006/08/economic-impact-of-death-penalty-vs_03.html

[ebroadcast]

01:50 PM on 07/15/2010

Remember that if someone gets the death sentence, its going to likley be 10 or so yrs before the sucka gets put down, due to appeals and such. That's still a lot of time to paying for this creep.

[Tommygun264]

01:37 AM on 07/15/2010

Most police officers are honest, hardworking public servants. However, a certain minority are violent bullies who abuse their position and betray the public trust. But the fact that these criminals find their way into law enforcement is not the greatest injustice. The greatest injustice is that when a small minority of law enforcement disgraces their uniform and betrays the public trust, many of their fellow officers, superiors, prosecutors and the judiciary close ranks around the criminal element, not so much because they are corrupt, but they fear the inevitable damage the exposure of the criminal element will cause and the fact that anarchy can ensue once the public loses faith in law enforcement and the judiciary. Refusing to shy away from bringing their own to justice is perhaps the most difficult thing, but it is the most important. Because the only thing more damaging to our society than criminals within law enforcement is otherwise honest police, prosecutors and judges covering up and excusing criminal behavior. These men chose a profession that requires they be held to a higher standard and the severity of their punishment must fit the severity of their crimes.

[rogersmaltby]

02:30 AM on 07/15/2010

Most police officers are...well, neither you nor I knows, really, whether they're honest or not, hardworking or not, serving the public or not. We take what we get when their paths cross ours. And what we get, within the parameters of our lives, shapes our views of the aforementioned. Agreed?
Whether any of us likes it or not, a significant portion of the poor population (myself included) sees the police as an occupying force.Why is that?

[Buakaw Por Pramuk]

05:53 AM on 07/15/2010

"Most police officers are...well, neither you nor I knows"

Exactly! Anything else is just a totally baseless assumption. Most people have no idea about the frequency of police abuse in this country.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

02:36 PM on 07/15/2010

Fanned AND faved!

[StarRanger]

12:52 PM on 07/15/2010

I found out when I returned to my hometown after being away at college and whatnot for a few years. The ranks of the local police were filled by the local school bullies! All the kids who loved to gang up on the smaller, weaker, or less friendly kids turned up getting a badge to legitimize their bullying.

Sure there are plenty of dedicated, hard working, honest officers, but THIS bunch just found a way to continue their bullying and make it legal. Subsequent incidents involving these officers proved they had found their life's calling and a chance to run roughshod over people at the same time.

[socsdd]

12:36 AM on 07/15/2010

welcome to america

[CitizenKane16]

12:30 AM on 07/15/2010

Why has this taken 5 years to come to trial? Some of these officers have retired and others have only just been suspended without pay. Pensions need to be revoked and they need to go after the pay they've received ever since this incident. This stinks to high heaven.

[xlntcat]

03:33 AM on 07/15/2010

There is very little before, during or in the aftermath of Katrina in NOLA that doesn't stink to high heaven. Billions of tax payer dollars have been poured into Louisiana. No state has ever received so much federal aide as Louisiana has and yet, there has been on accountability. The parts of NOLA that weren't restored by non-profits and celebrites remain as it was the day the water receded. Schools have leaky roofs and money intended to restore NOLA never leaves Baton Rouge or returns to Bobby Jindal's freezer.

One of the initial acts of Napoolitano was to travel to NOLA to fire the FEMA personnel who had turned the FEMA office into a drug selling brothel which had long before been reported with no intervention.

Funding for housing in NOLA which should have been forfieted as it had no been used was simply returned to Jindal in Baton Rouge. Louisiana hasn't picked up its part of medicaid, food stamps etc since the manmade disaster in NOLA but even following the oil spill and the moratorium enjoys a 6.9% unemployment rate thanks to your generosity and $140 a barrel oil.

[CitizenKane16]

09:00 AM on 07/15/2010

So this is how Jindal has run New Orleans and now he wants to run the country in the same way? Now it makes sense why he still wants to Drill Baby, Drill. These crooked politicians and their law enforcement cohorts just need to be rounded up and dropped off in Guantanamo.

[Polichick66]

02:25 PM on 07/15/2010

A state judge threw out the charges in 2008, this is a federal case brought after an investigation.

[Nick Anthony]

12:12 AM on 07/15/2010

rolls eyes and says...."NOT AGAIN"!