Federal judge throws out 3 charges in Danziger Bridge case (New Orleans post-Katrina)

[alp227]

Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune

Four of the defendants convicted in August in the Danziger Bridge police shootings and a subsequent cover-up got a small measure of relief from a federal judge this morning.

U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt, who presided over the six-week trial, threw out convictions on three of the 25 counts at issue in the case, saying the government failed to meet its burden of proof for certain defendants on those specific counts. A jury in August returned convictions on all 25 counts, although none of the officers was charged in all counts.

Engelhardt's 13-page ruling was perhaps most notable for the tart language the judge used at times in criticizing the federal government's witnesses and its lawyers.

It's not clear how the ruling will affect sentencing for the five officers, which is set for Dec. 14. The effect is likely to be minimal, because the charges on the most serious counts remain in force. But lawyers for the convicted officers hailed the tossed charges as a rare bit of good news for their camp.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/10/federal_judges_throws_out_3_ch.html

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Found out about this from .

[annabanana]

1. Whose Federal Judge was that?

Engelhardt is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Engelhardt was nominated by President George W. Bush on September 4, 2001,

[just us]

2. Justus

The judge should have been outraged enough to rule in favor of
the racist murders and not ease up in any way. Everyone knows
the leanings of these Tex/Lous/ark  judges.

[truedelphi]

3. Totally agree with you. And

Welcome to DU.