Jury convicts 5 officers in post-Katrina shootings

Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS

A federal jury on Friday convicted five current or former New Orleans police officers of civil-rights violations in one of the lowest moments for city police in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: the shooting deaths of a teenager and a mentally disabled man as they crossed a bridge in search of food and help.

The case was a high-stakes test of the Justice Department’s effort to rid the police department of corruption and brutality.

A total of 20 current or former New Orleans police officers were charged last year in a series of federal probes.

Most of the cases center on actions during the aftermath of the Aug. 29, 2005, storm, which plunged the flooded city into lawlessness and desperation.

Sgts. Robert Gisevius and Kenneth Bowen, Officer Anthony Villavaso and former officer Robert Faulcon were convicted of civil-rights violations in the shootings that killed two people and wounded four others on the Danziger Bridge days after the storm.

They face possible life prison sentences.

Retired Sgt. Arthur “Archie” Kaufman and the other four men also were convicted of engaging in a brazen cover-up that included a planted gun, fabricated witnesses and falsified reports.

The five men were convicted of all 25 counts they faced.