In a 127-page order, U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt overturned
the jury convictions of five New Orleans police officers accused of
shooting unarmed people a week after Hurricane Katrina and then
orchestrating a cover-up.His decision focused largely on the two
high-ranking former prosecutors who anonymously posted online comments
about the case, as well as other pending cases, when it was still in its
infancy and during the month-long trial.“This case started as
one featuring allegations of brazen abuse of authority, violation of the
law, and corruption of the criminal justice system; unfortunately,
though the focus has switched from the accused to the accusors (sic), it
has continued to be about those very issues. After much reflection, the
Court cannot journey as far as it has in this case only to ironically
accept grotesque prosecutorial misconduct in the end,” Engelhardt wrote.The
prosecutors who posted on NOLA.com about Danziger were Sal Perricone
and Jan Mann, the longtime first assistant under former U.S. Attorney
Jim Letten. Neither was directly involved in the Danziger case, which
was spearheaded by prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice’s
civil rights division.
I hate to say it, but I told you so. Actually, I don’t hate saying it.Fuck you, Jim Letten
for allowing your office to spiral out of control. This is the second time a major case has been blown because Letten’s staff couldn’t STFU and do their job.
If I were a cartoon character, steam would be coming out of my ears and thunderbolts would be shooting out of my eyeballs.