New Orleans Police Charged In Katrina Shootings Won't Face Death Penalty

NEW ORLEANS — The Justice Department says it will not seek the death penalty against four current or former New Orleans police officers charged in deadly shootings on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina.

Prosecutors disclosed the decision in court documents Friday. They did not say why they were not seeking the death penalty.

Less than a week after the 2005 storm, two people were killed and four others were wounded by police on the Danziger Bridge. The shootings led to a widespread investigation of the police department.

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.

Comments

[dteg]

02:55 AM on 09/23/2010

Thank you US Justice Dept. This is the first time I have seen any time given to any policeman for abusing or murdering citizens since the Rodney King beating. And LA had to tear up the city to get the USA justice system to do its job back in the day. Also thanks to the many honorable reporters down there who wouldn't let some of what they saw drop.

Hopefully we will see longer sentences for cops who held out the longest, would not come forward and are still in denial.

[Sugarmaker]

10:59 AM on 09/13/2010

Yet another sad chapter in the book of consequences surrounding social collapse in the wake of Katrina. We're supposed to be the sheep, the police are supposed to be the sheep dogs. These 4 were wolves.

The vast majority of cops are great people, but the police culture is weak on self reporting and eliminating those who seek the job for the wrong reasons. Until that changes, this kind of event will go on.

[dteg]

02:58 AM on 09/23/2010

I get tired of the cliche. "The vast majority of cops". It is already understood. Lets just get the dirty ones.

[redmeat ronnie]

08:12 AM on 09/13/2010

somnetimes you gotta shoot.

[sus2222]

09:56 PM on 09/13/2010

And sometimes you
gotta get shot...

[theRurJur]

11:35 PM on 09/12/2010

"We felt that doing nothing in a period of repressive violence is itself a form of violence. That's really the part that I think is the hardest for people to understand. If you sit in your house, live your white life and go to your white job, and allow the country that you live in to murder people and to commit genocide, and you sit there and you don't do anything about it, that's violence." Naomi Jaffe

[Samantha Monteleone]

10:39 PM on 09/12/2010

Eugh. THIS is a prime example of Louisiana law for you. If not the death penalty, hopefully the punishment is equally as harsh.

[BraveWarrior]

04:45 AM on 09/13/2010

Neither in Louisiana or Los Angeles. Too bad the victims, the people these officers were supposed to be protecting and working for were sentenced to death. Death for the crime of being black and poor.

[Bienville]

11:53 AM on 09/13/2010

What does that mean?

The Feds are in charge of this prosecution. These officers are charged under Federal statutes. The Feds made the decision to not pursue the death penalty.

[wyb]

10:05 PM on 09/12/2010

Sounds like an all white jury somewhere is running the show.

[sus2222]

01:18 AM on 09/13/2010

Try and find a different color jury when cops are the shooters.

[sus2222]

01:18 AM on 09/13/2010

They don't exist.

[redmeat ronnie]

08:11 AM on 09/13/2010

why does that even matter?

[Bienville]

11:53 AM on 09/13/2010

FBI and DOJ are "running the show."

[BannedInBoston]

07:44 PM on 09/12/2010

As indeed they shouldn't, since the _death penalty is immoral (the main reason for opposing it). But they should be given the throw-away-the-key penalty....

[gnomic]

03:37 PM on 09/12/2010

Quit crying for the Feds folks, they aren't prosecuting war criminals either. The only way you go to jail now is if you are poor.

[sueno]

03:07 PM on 09/12/2010

This ruling just shows
how corrupt NOLA still is.
There is no justice in a corrupt city,
the FEDS need to take over
this investigation-

[Bienville]

07:24 PM on 09/12/2010

The Feds ARE in control of this investigation.
These police officers are facing Federal criminal charges.
The decision to pursue the death penalty is a Federal one.

[Mydian01]

01:46 PM on 09/12/2010

so there really is no punishment for murder when you wear blue, especially in NOLA

[NorCalSurfer]

12:14 PM on 09/12/2010

Nice, let's give these murderers medals.

[BannedInBoston]

07:49 PM on 09/12/2010

The teabag right would probably endorse that idea....

[Raymond Soltysek]

07:41 AM on 09/13/2010

Come on now - a lifetime in jail having been a cop isn't anything like being given a medal. And besides, no-one should face the death penalty.

[molonlabe]

12:14 PM on 09/13/2010

Funny, wasn't it Nagin (D) who was in charge of that whole operation and even went as far as forceably disarming law-abiding citizens through brute force?

Stereotype much?

[medic628]

10:59 AM on 09/12/2010

The good old double standard again. You wonder why people do not trust the system?

[Aka Betito]

10:08 AM on 09/12/2010

So disgusted police like him and others represent America. I thought we were better then that?

[tbone99]

10:40 AM on 09/12/2010

What EVER led you to that conclusion?

[Querent]

03:24 PM on 09/13/2010

Propaganda.

[PolicyWonkette]

09:48 AM on 09/12/2010

It's pretty obvious why they're not seeking the death penalty -- unequal justice.

Personally, I think this is the right decision. Now -- if we can get the death penalty dropped in all other cases, that would go a long way to making our justice system more fair.

[fromdnorth]

10:09 AM on 09/12/2010

Fanned

[MetrointheWoods]

09:36 AM on 09/12/2010

I spent eight days in the city after Katrina. Most of the criminal activity was committed by the NOPD and Military. Personally, I think the death penalty is too good for them.

[tbone99]

10:41 AM on 09/12/2010

I think a life sentence in Angola would be far worse

[Bienville]

07:26 PM on 09/12/2010

The Feds are prosecuting. I don't think they'll go to the Farm.