Nawlins cops to face charges, Katrina related

[m21sniper]

By MARY FOSTER and MIKE KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writers – 11 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – Federal officials are charging a former New Orleans police lieutenant with conspiracy to obstruct justice in an investigation of killings by police officers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The charge was unsealed Wednesday and is part of a deal under which Michael Lohman has agreed to help in the investigation of a shooting by seven officers after the storm. The shooting left two people dead and four others wounded at the Danziger Bridge.

The Justice Department's civil rights division opened a probe after a state judge threw out state charges of murder and attempted murder against the seven in 2008. Lohman was not one of the seven.

Ex-officer charged in Katrina bridge killing probe - Yahoo! News

Background details. Cops planted a gun, made unjustified arrests, shot unarmed people. The usual.

"The document states that Lohman was assigned to investigate the case while on the bridge on Sept. 4, and learned at that point that the officers involved planned to lie about the shooting. He also admits knowing that another officer planted a gun at the scene.


Lohman "also talked to some of the officers and sergeants involved in the shooting and learned that they planned to provide false stories about what had precipitated the shooting."


Lohman also "tacitly encouraged them to do so.""

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/02/police_investigator_encouraged.html

[m21sniper]

Alleged subway sodomy victim Michael Mineo fears mistrial in case against cops

BY Tanyanika Samuels
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, February 21st 2010, 4:00 AM

Smith, Bryan, Freelance NYDN
Alleged NYPD sodomy victim Michael Mineo speaks at a press conference at the National Action Network (NAN) in Harlem.
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The alleged victim in the subway sodomy case said Saturday he is afraid the trial will end with a hung jury.

Michael Mineo acknowledged his fears a day after a judge dismissed a juror in the case.

"I'm scared about what's going to happen," an emotional Mineo said at the Rev. Al Sharpton's weekly rally in Harlem.

"I feel it will be a hung jury. It's hard for me now," he said, adding that he's scared to "go out."

Sharpton called the defense in the case "an insult."

"I hope the jury in Brooklyn weighs the crime done to Michael Mineo and not the distractions," he said. "They are trying to justify what I would consider the unjustifiable."

The alleged assault with a police baton occurred as officers were arresting Mineo after a marijuana stop on the Prospect Park subway platform in October 2008.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus dismissed Juror No. 6 on Friday. She had told the other jurors she'd heard that suspect Officer Richard Kern had been convicted of police brutality before.

He had been accused of excessive force in a 2007 civil suit, but the city settled with two men out of court for $50,000.

The judge seated an alternate and told the jurors that the officer had never been arrested for anything.

Kern is being tried for aggravated sexual assault for allegedly sodomizing Mineo. If convicted, he faces 25 years in prison.

Officers Alex Cruz and Andrew Maloney also are facing charges of trying to cover up the alleged incident.

tsamuels@nydailynews.com

[widebody911]

The alleged victim in the subway sodomy case said Saturday he is afraid the trial will end with a hung jury.


I love it when a joke writes itself...