Louisiana Cops convicted in bridge shootings seek new trial

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Four former New Orleans police officers convicted in the deadly shootings on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina are asking for a new trial. Attorneys for four say federal prosecutors hid evidence and relied on false testimony in the case. The Times-Picayune reports the motion makes two main claims: federal prosecutors only recently turned over key videotaped evidence, and the government knowingly used witness testimony that the video proved was false. The motion, filed Friday by the attorney for convicted Sgt. Kenneth Bowen, was later adopted by attorneys for Anthony Villavaso, Robert Faulcon and Robert Gisevius. The court filing states that a video shot by a CBS affiliate in Miami on the Danziger Bridge walkway shows no bullet casings. The video was shot on the day of the shooting, sometime before James Brissette's body was removed from the scene. Former officer Jeffrey Lehrmann testified at trial that Bowen kicked casings off the walkway weeks after the shooting as part of an effort to cover up what happened on the bridge. But Bowen couldn't have kicked the casings if they weren't there, according to Bowen's attorney, Robin Schulberg, a federal public defender. The video "definitively contradicts" Lehrmann's testimony, Schulberg noted in her motion. Lehrmann, a former NOPD officer and federal immigration agent who pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, said he witnessed Bowen kick casings into the grass below the bridge in October 2005, a day before crime lab technicians were to process the scene. Lehrmann, who cooperated with prosecutors, testified that he asked Bowen why he was kicking the casings, and Bowen said the lab techs would find them anyway. Federal prosecutors thus presented testimony they knew to be false, the motion states. That claim will be ruled on by U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt, who has expressed similar sentiments, complaining that the government's case relied too heavily on "using liars lying to convict liars." Schulberg's motion further alleged that the government long possessed the video and was well aware of its contents. The video was not turned over during the initial discovery process, which violates series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that require prosecutors to turn over evidence that may be favorable to a defendant before trial. In preparing for sentencing, Bowen's attorney requested a copy of the video on March 14, according to the motion. She received it days later. The federal prosecution team received the video in September 2009, according to court filings. A spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division declined to comment Monday. Bowen, Gisevius, Villavaso and Faulcon were convicted of firing weapons on the bridge and participating in a cover-up, among other charges. They were issued sentences last month ranging from 38 to 65 years in prison. Another former NOPD sergeant, Arthur Kaufman, was also convicted on charges related to the cover-up. Engelhardt sentenced Kaufman, who was not involved in the shootings, to six years in prison for helping mastermind the cover-up. Federal guidelines had called for a sentence of between eight and 10 years, and prosecutors asked Engelhardt for a 20-year sentence, citing his role as the "point man" in the whitewash. Prosecutors on Monday appealed Engelhardt's sentences. Published: Wed, May 16, 2012