Shots on the Bridge

by Ronnie Greene

  Ultimately, in August 2008, Judge Bigelow dismissed the charges against the officers, citing prosecutorial error. The Justice Department, indeed, stepped in. My research was aided by Times-Picayune coverage of the judicial turns in 2008.

  CHAPTER 16 Conspiracy Cracks Under Federal Glare

  By late 2008 the Justice Department and FBI were officially on the case. The chapter describing their pursuit is built in part from testimony from an FBI agent who helped crack open the cover-up, William Bezak. Bezak testified over three days of trial in the case of USA v. Bowen et al., on July 18, 19, and 21, 2011. I researched the background of the lead federal civil rights prosecutor, Bobbi Bernstein, examining cases she brought against Los Angeles gang members and hate crime purveyors in Illinois. Those cases were detailed in Department of Justice court filings and press releases involving the Illinois hate crime prosecution in 2008, and the Los Angeles gang hate crime prosecuted in 2006. Bernstein described her view of the significance of the Danziger Bridge case during a sentencing hearing for Officer Michael Hunter on November 5, 2011, another transcript I reviewed during the research. This section, explaining federal involvement in a case formally dismissed in state court, included interviews with Lance Madison’s defense team and court testimony from another FBI official, Kelly Bryson, then based in New Orleans. Bryson testified in the USA v. Bowen et al. federal prosecution on July 12, 2011.

  I interviewed Davidson Ehle III, the attorney for the first officer to cooperate with the federal government, Detective Jeffrey Lehrmann, on September 19, 2014. I interviewed Townsend Myers, the lawyer for Hunter, who became the first shooter to agree to cooperate with the Justice Department investigation, on December 3, 2014, and learned more about Hunter’s decision through his courtroom testimony in 2011. Also, I interviewed Robert Glass, the lawyer for patrolman Robert Barrios, another officer to enter a plea, on October 6, 2014. Barrios’s testimony in 2011 in USA v. Bowen et al. provided further insight into how his case unfolded. A July 18, 2011, Times-Picayune story, “Danziger Bridge Jury Hears Cops’ Profanity-Laced, Secretly Taped Conversation,” included excerpts from the secret tape-recording of Sergeant Gisevius.

  CHAPTER 17 USA v. Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon, Villavaso, Kaufman and Dugue

  In July 2010, nearly five years after the shots on the bridge, the Justice Department secured indictments against four shooters and two supervisors, building a case constructed with the help of plea deals from other officers. The thirty-two-page grand jury indictment, USA v. Bowen et al., details those charges and helps frame this chapter. I reviewed press statements issued by DOJ following the indictment and comments from defense lawyers reported at the time in the local media.

  I also obtained a thirty-five-page police Public Integrity Bureau file on the Danziger Bridge case, dated September 27, 2011, that included a lengthy chronology of events and the departmental status of each accused officer. I obtained the file through a 2013 public records request to the city of New Orleans. Since the inquiry occurred after the hurricane, this was one of the PIB narrative files not destroyed by the storm.

  CHAPTER 18 Judgment Time, Judicial Questions—and an Officer’s Shame

  This chapter, detailing the sentences given to the officers who cooperated with the Justice Department, is built largely from federal court files on their cases, including transcripts of sentencing hearings. One of those cases involved Detective Jeffrey Lehrmann; I obtained US district judge Lance M. Africk’s eight-page order, dated September 15, 2011, detailing his reasons for denying the government’s motion to reduce Lehrmann’s prison sentence. A second hearing involved Officer Michael Hunter, held November 5, 2011, in the court of US district judge Sarah S. Vance; and a third concerned Officer Ignatius Hills, who expressed shame for his role in the shootings and cover-up. Hills was sentenced October 5, 2011, before US district judge Martin L. C. Feldman. The chapter includes courtroom comments from judges overseeing those cases; several took issue with the length of sentences given the cooperating witnesses. I researched biographical information on those judges on judicial and university websites, such as a Tulane University Law School profile of Judge Lance Africk, and in published reports, including coverage of Judge Martin Feldman’s ruling involving the Deepwater Horizon.

  CHAPTER 19 In the Courtroom

  This chapter is built largely from the 2011 trial transcript in the case of USA v. Bowen et al., including detailed opening statements by both the prosecution and the defense teams. I obtained the list of exhibits introduced at trial and in 2014 interviewed defense lawyers for several of the officers, including Eric Hessler, representing Robert Gisevius Jr., and Timothy Meche, representing Anthony Villavaso II. I reviewed the jury verdict and described the public reaction to this significant civil rights prosecution. I interviewed Sherrel Johnson about the verdict in April 2012, examined photographs taken by the Associated Press following the verdict, and read coverage in the Times-Picayune and New Orleans Independent Examiner. On August 18, 2011, NPR aired a segment about the case, citing the reaction Bobbi Bernstein received as she walked the streets following the convictions: “Verdict in Katrina Shooting Buoys Police Reform.”

  Some profile information on the officers, including Sergeant Gisevius and Officer Villavaso, came from letters later filed to the court on their behalf by family and friends in late 2011 and early 2012 as the officers awaited sentencing in the federal prosecution on April 4, 2012. In addition, I cite the police department’s own finding of wrongdoing by officers, spelled out in the Public Integrity Bureau files I obtained.

  CHAPTER 20 The Online Commentators

  Details about the online comments made by prosecutor Sal Perricone are documented in federal judge Kurt Engelhardt’s September 17, 2013, order dismissing the jury verdicts. I sought Perricone’s perspective in December 2014, and the retired prosecutor answered some questions about his background and shared information about his overall online activities. He also pointed me to his LinkedIn profile, which included further biographical information. But he said he could not discuss the Danziger case while it remained in court. This chapter also benefited from coverage of the Perricone comments in the Times-Picayune and a detailed Los Angeles Times story published September 10, 2014 by writer Timothy M. Phelps, “His Own Words Help Bring Down New Orleans Prosecutor.”

  CHAPTER 21 From Prep School to Politics to Danziger

  Researching Kurt Damian Engelhardt, the judge who would make waves by dismissing the jury verdict, I found a Q&A profile of Engelhardt published in January 2013 by the Crimson Shield, the online magazine of Brother Martin High School. Headlined “From Band to Bench,” the profile included background about the judge’s political and career path and his judicial outlook.

  I researched other background on the judge, including his career arc from a Metairie law firm to the bench, from sources including the New Orleans Bar Association and Federal Judicial Center, and I observed Engelhardt in action during the sentencing of officers in April 2012.

  CHAPTER 22 Judgment Day

  Early into my research the five convicted officers came up for sentencing. I flew to New Orleans to attend the sentencing, a reporting trip that formed the framework of this chapter. I also reviewed the court transcript of the April 4, 2012, hearing, which included comments from victims, lawyers, police officers, and the parents of Kenneth Bowen and Robert Faulcon Jr.

  I obtained the statement Lance Madison read in court at sentencing and statements written by Lesha Bartholomew and Jose Holmes Jr., whose passages were read by their lawyers, Edwin Shorty Jr. and Gary Bizal. An AP photograph of Susan Bartholomew helped me set the scene. I interviewed Robin E. Schulberg, the federal public defender for Sergeant Kenneth Bowen, on September 19, 2014. The figure on the percent of cases that end in plea deals comes from a 2011 Bureau of Justice Assistance report, Plea and Charge Bargaining.

  CHAPTER 23 The Consent Decree

  This chapter is built largely from the Justice Department’s March 16, 2011, report Investigatio
n of the New Orleans Police Department detailing civil rights violations in the NOPD and urging reform. The material also includes reports issued by the Justice Department detailing the consent decree it later entered into with the city. They include a July 24, 2012, civil action brought by the US government against the city police department and a 124-page pact, “Consent Decree Regarding the New Orleans Police Department,” approved January 11, 2003, by US district judge Susie Morgan and signed by parties including police superintendent Ronal W. Serpas and Mayor Mitchell Landrieu.

  My research into prior abuse cases benefited from coverage of the Len Davis case in the Times-Picayune, including a December 21, 2011 story, “Hit Man Who Killed Kim Groves in 1994 Is Sentenced to Life in Prison,” and in the 1998 Human Rights Watch report exploring police abuses nationwide. The section exploring the Henry Glover case was built from a review of Justice Department statements on the case and media reports, notably “Law and Disorder,” a fifty-six minute broadcast on PBS Frontline on August 25, 2010, produced with ProPublica and the Times-Picayune. Newspaper clips described NOPD officer Antoinette Frank’s death row case, including a May 23, 2007, story in the Times-Picayune headlined “Death Penalty Upheld for N.O. Ex-Cop.” Lawyer Mary Howell shared insights about the history of police abuses in an interview.

  I reviewed then superintendent Ronal Serpas’s website maintained by the NOPD urging reform in the ranks, and I benefited from a Times-Picayune column September 7, 2014, by Jarvis DeBerry exploring truths behind the department’s promise to wear body cameras. Preparing to visit New Orleans in September 2014, I filed an interview request with Superintendent Serpas on July 31, 2014, seeking to schedule a meeting to hear his perspective on the Danziger Bridge case and larger civil rights issues. I followed up repeatedly with police public affairs officials to set the interview, to no avail. Then on August 18, 2014, Serpas suddenly resigned. I followed up, seeking to interview his interim replacement, Lieutenant Michael Harrison. The department refused the request.

  CHAPTER 24 “The Interests of Justice”

  More than two years into my research, US district judge Kurt Engelhardt ordered an abrupt reversal in the case, overturning jurors’ conviction of the five officers and ordering a new trial. Much of this chapter is built from this 129-page ruling September 17, 2013. I spoke with key players about the order, including Romell Madison, former mayor Marc Morial, Bartholomew family lawyer Edwin Shorty Jr., and Davidson Ehle III, lawyer for Detective Jeffrey Lehrmann, the first NOPD officer to cooperate. Civil lawyer Mary Howell described in a 2014 interview how defendants in other public corruption prosecutions failed to cash in on Engelhardt’s ruling in their cases. The chapter includes court testimony from Officer Robert Barrios and FBI agent William Bezak in the USA v. Bowen et al. federal prosecution; legal analysis on attorney blogs, including the White Collar Crime Prof Blog, September 18, 2013; and a Washington Post editorial four days after the ruling, “No Justice in New Orleans Danziger Bridge Case.”

  INDEX

  Please note that page numbers are not accurate for the e-book edition.

  Academy Park neighborhood, 3

  Africk, Lance M., 135, 136, 228

  Algiers 7 case, xi–xii, 107, 182, 215

  Andrieu, Donna, 73

  Arnold, Stanton Doyle, 41, 220

  Baltimore, MD, 206, 209

  Baron, Michael Christopher, 37–38, 220

  Barrios, Robert: agrees to cooperate with DOJ, 126–27; audiotaped statement, 67; charges filed against, 94–95; on Danziger Bridge, 28, 33; DOJ charge against, 127; in initial police report, 62; listed as victim of shootings, 85; and possible future retrial, 202; recorded conversation with Villavaso, 127; resignation and plea bargain, 128, 178, 198; secret meeting, 67; sentencing, 141; testimony of, 153–54, 227; walk to city lockup, 99

  Bartholomew, Brandon, 10

  Bartholomew, “Big” Leonard, III: about, 10; on Danziger Bridge, 32, 33; NOPD questions in hospital, 79; statements falsely attributed to, 61; wounds logged, 42

  Bartholomew, Lesha: about, 10; on Danziger Bridge, xvi, 33–34, 35; effects of shooting on, 90–91; at sentencing hearing, 175; testimony of, 156–57; triage at West Jefferson Medical Center, 46; wounds logged, 42

  Bartholomew, “Little” Leonard, IV: about, 10, 11; on Danziger Bridge, 32, 33, 35–36; freed from custody, 41; not mentioned in police report, 120; in weeks after shooting, 79–80

  Bartholomew, Susan: on Danziger Bridge, xv–xvi, 30, 33–34, 35, 41; decision not to evacuate New Orleans, xiv; false statements attributed to, 60, 61; NOPD questions in hospital, 79; observed by Magee, 44; at sentencing hearing, 179–80; testimony of, 150–51; triage at West Jefferson Medical Center, 46; wounds logged, 42; wounds tended to, 41

  Bartholomew family: civil lawsuit of, 90–91, 203, 217; on Danziger Bridge, 30, 32–36; relocated to higher ground near bridge, 20; and verdicts, 162

  Bayard, Timothy P., 49, 100, 220

  Bernstein, Barbara “Bobbi”: about, 117, 227; Award for Exceptional Service, 190; closing statement, 161; Dugue interview, 120; and guilty plea deals, 128–29, 135–40, 178–79, 197–99; Kaufman interview, 118–20; opening statement, 143–44; prosecution witnesses and testimony, 150–57; at sentencing hearing, 177–78; sentencing recommendations for cooperators, 135–40; at trial, 153, 220; and verdicts, 162, 163–64, 229

  Bezak, William: about, 116; assigned to Danziger case, 120–21; Award for Exceptional Service, 190; criticized by Engelhardt, 197; and Kaufman interview by DOJ, 118–20; testimony of, 155, 227

  Bigelow, Raymond: bond ruling of, 105–6, 110–11; case dismissed by, 112–14; efforts to remove, 111–12; retirement of, 113; ties with police, 104–5, 110–11, 225–26

  Bizal, Gary W., 175; filed lawsuit for Jose Holmes Jr., 90

  Blackburn, Emily DeSalvo, 104

  Black Lives Matter slogan, 206

  Bowen, Kenneth: actions in initial Kaufman report, 59–60; audiotaped statement, 67; charges filed against, 94–95, 130–33; on Danziger Bridge, 32, 34–35, 38–39, 43; Hunter’s testimony regarding, 128, 160–61, 198; in initial police report, 62; law license suspended, 163; lawyer’s opening statement, 147; legal representation of, 104; listed as victim of shootings, 84; in official police report, 85; reports to Lohman and Kaufman on scene, 53–55; response to bridge shooting assistance call, xv, xvi; second degree murder charge against, xi, xii–xiii, 29–30, 219; secret meeting, 67; and sentencing hearing, 176–77, 179; and stomping of Ronald Madison, 38, 128, 155, 160–61, 173; story about lack of weapons, 54–55; suspension of, 134; turned self in to FBI, 134; walk to city lockup, 99

  Bowen, Kenneth, Sr., 176–77

  Bowen, Maria, 177

  Bowser, Christopher, 117

  Brissette, James, Jr. (JJ): autopsy report, 82–83, 223; with Bartholomew family, 21; birth and childhood of, 8–9; body’s disposition, 42; on Danziger Bridge, xiv, 30, 33, 34; death of, xv; identification of body of, 43; observed by Magee, 44; separated from mother, 19–20; verdicts on death of, 161–62; wounds and death logged, 42; wrongly identified as gunman, 63

  Brissette, James, Sr., 9

  Brissette, Robert (Yogi), 7

  Brown, Brittney, 70, 78–79, 222

  Brown, Jacquelyn Madison, 4; disturbing dreams, 70; at Hills’s sentencing hearing, 140–41

  Brown, Michael, 205–6, 208–9

  Bryan, Kevin: on Danziger Bridge, 33, 35–36, 41; excluded from post-shooting meetings, 57; testimony of, 33, 221

  Bryson, Kelly: and Kaufman interview by DOJ, 119–20

  Bush, George W., 172

  Carter, Theodore, 136, 137, 151, 155

  Celestine, Andrea (Brissette), 7–8, 9, 81, 143–44

  Celestine, Lawrence, 9, 81

  Christian, Forrest, 190

  Chung, Cindy K., 136, 137, 150, 162, 190

  Collery, Elizabeth, 207

  Compass, Edwin P., III, 78, 88–89, 109

  Congressional Black Caucus (US House), 110

  Connick, Harry, Sr., 92, 102
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br />   Crystal Palace banquet hall, ix, x, xiii; Faulcon arrives at, 23–24

  Daniel, Robin R., 111

  Danziger 7 defense fund, 98

  Danziger Bridge 7 indictment: bond ruling, 105–6; case assigned to Bigelow, 104–5; case dismissed by Bigelow, 112–14; charges filed, 94–95; Madison pushes for federal involvement, 106–11; police remain on job, 96–97; walk to city lockup, 99

  Danziger Bridge shooting: actions of police responding to assistance call, xv; cover-up and phony reporting, xvi, 57–64; deaths and woundings, xv–xvi; description of bridge, xiv; Dupree calls for assistance, 26–28; events sequence, 32–42; false evidence planted, 65–66; initial on-site supervisor observations, 52–56; Lohman’s initial assessment of, 52–56; Magee’s observations after, 44–45; officer audiotaped statements, 66–67; police log of bloodshed, 42; press release of NOPD, 63; responding officers, 28; witnesses created, 64–65, 86, 119, 121, 132. See also specific people involved

  Davis, Dustin M.: attempts to have Bigelow removed, 111–12; improper actions detailed, 112; investigation into shooting, 94; No True Bill issued, 95

  Davis, Len (Robocop), xi, 92, 107–8, 181–82

  DeSalvo, Frank, 147, 160–61

  Deshotel, John F., 49

  Diaz, Omar M., 163

  “Dispos,” 195–97, 207

  Dobinski, Karla (“Dispos”), 195–97, 207

  Dugue, Gerard: case on hold, 203; federal charges against, 131, 132; fifty-four-page report filed, 84; interviewed by DOJ, 120; reports discovered by DOJ, 122; secret meeting, 67