5 ex-cops sentenced in Katrina killings case

By CAIN BURDEAU | Associated Press – April 4, 2012

NEW ORLEANS — Five former New Orleans police officers were sentenced
Wednesday to prison terms ranging from six to 65 years for their roles in
deadly shootings of unarmed residents on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina.

Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon were
convicted of firearms charges in the shootings. Retired Sgt. Arthur
"Archie" Kaufman, who was assigned to investigate the shootings, was
convicted of helping orchestrate the cover-up.

Faulcon received the stiffest sentence of 65 years. Bowen and Gisevius
each got 40 years while Villavaso was sentenced to 38 years. Kaufman
received the lightest sentence at six years.

A federal jury convicted the officers in August 2011 of civil rights
violations in the shootings on the Danziger Bridge and the cover-up.

Police shot six people, killing two, less than a week after the storm's
landfall on Aug. 29, 2005. To make the shootings appear justified,
officers conspired to plant a gun, fabricate witnesses and falsify
reports.

The case became the centerpiece of the Justice Department's push to clean
up the troubled New Orleans Police Department.

U.S. District Kurt Engelhardt heard hours of testimony earlier in the day
from prosecutors, defense attorneys, relatives of shooting victims and the
officers.