Five former New Orleans police officers will be sentenced Wednesday for their parts in the Danziger Bridge case. They are, from top left: Kenneth Bowen, Robert Faulcon, Robert Gisevius, Arthur Kaufman and Anthony Villavaso.


The five former New Orleans police officers convicted last summer in the unjustified shootings of unarmed civilians on the Danziger Bridge and a subsequent cover-up are set to be sentenced Wednesday morning in federal court. Four of them are facing sentences that, by law, will stretch at least three decades.

Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius and Anthony Villavaso will be put behind bars for at least 35 years, according to sentencing guidelines tied to their gun and civil rights convictions. Meanwhile, Robert Faulcon, the only officer tied to the second of the two fatal shootings on the bridge that day -- that of Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old mentally challenged man -- faces a sentence of at least 65 years in prison.

Arthur "Archie" Kaufman, who was not involved in the shootings but was convicted of coordinating a broad police cover-up, will spend significantly less time in prison than his peers.

The five defendants were convicted in August after a seven-week trial that explored one of the city's most traumatic events following Hurricane Katrina. Police shot six civilians, two fatally, on Sept. 4, 2005, on and near the bridge, which spans the Industrial Canal and connects Gentilly and eastern New Orleans. James Brissette, 17, and Madison were killed, while Susan Bartholomew, her husband Leonard, teenage daughter Lesha and nephew Jose Holmes Jr. were wounded.

Police portrayed the injured and dead civilians as criminals. Madison's brother, Lance, was arrested for allegedly firing at officers and jailed for weeks, though the case was eventually dropped.

Years later, a federal civil rights probe flipped that narrative on its head. Investigators discovered that police planted evidence, fabricated witnesses, faked reports, framed Madison, lied repeatedly and engaged in a brazen cover-up that persisted for years.

A federal jury found the officers guilty on virtually every point, save for the prosecutors' contention that shootings amounted to murder.

This morning in federal court, prosecutors and defense attorneys will once again debate aspects of their case before U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt. Prosecutors are expected to push for prison sentences beyond the mandatory minimum, while attorneys for the former officers will lobby for leniency. Relatives of the shooting victims, as well as colleagues of the convicted officers, are expected to testify before the judge imposes the sentences.

(CNN) -- A federal judge Wednesday sentenced five former New Orleans police officers to prison terms ranging from six to 65 years for the shootings of unarmed civilians in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, prosecutors said.

The ex-officers were convicted in August on a combined 25 counts of civil rights violations in the shootings, which occurred on the Danziger Bridge on September 4, 2005, six days after much of New Orleans went underwater when the powerful hurricane slammed into the Gulf Coast.

The stiffest sentence went to former Officer Robert Faulcon, who was handed a 65-year term. Kenneth Bowen and Robert Gecivius got 40 years; Robert Villvaso, 38 years; and former detective Arthur Kaufman was sentenced to six years, according to the U.S. attorney's office in New Orleans.

Prosecutors argued the officers opened fire on an unarmed family, killing 17-year-old James Brissette and wounding four others. Minutes later, one of the officers shot and killed Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old man described by Justice Department officials as having severe mental disabilities and who was trying to flee the scene when he was shot, according to a Justice Department statement.

One of the officers allegedly "stomped and kicked" Madison before he died, the statement noted.



Victims: James Brissette (l) and Ronald Madison

(04-04-2012, 04:09 PM)Lady Cop Wrote: During the trial, the defense asked the jury to consider the stressful circumstances the officers were operating under following Katrina. The shootings took place during a week of dire flooding, rampant looting and death by drowning, and police were strained by suicides and desertion among their ranks.

"There were many, many New Orleans police officers who performed courageous, selfless acts of heroism in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina," Perez said. "But regrettably, the acts of heroism of so many have been overshadowed by the misconduct of a few.