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Louima
Disappointed By Convictions Reversal, State To Try Officer
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Louima |
WASHINGTON,
March 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Speaking for the first time since
last week’s overturning convictions in two trials against three New York City
police officers in his 1997 beating and sodomizing, Louima said Thursday he was
disappointed with the ruling.
The
2nd U.S. Court of Appeals last week over-turned the police officer convictions.
"I
want to express my disappointment," said Louima, quoted by CNN.
"Always I believe in our system of justice and what that means to me is for
justice. I had hoped after all these years I would have been able to go on with
my life. Unfortunately that is not the case."
The
court reversed convictions against Charles Schwarz, Thomas Wiese and Thomas
Bruder. However, the ruling did not affect the conviction of Justin Volpe, 29,
the chief attacker, who pleaded guilty in 1999 to violating Louima's civil
rights and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The court upheld Volpe’s
conviction previously.
At
a bail hearing for Schwarz Thursday in New York, Schwarz was granted a $1
million bail in anticipation of his new trial on civil rights charges being
filed against him, reported news agencies. But Schwarz could be out of jail by
Thursday afternoon once the paperwork was finished.
However,
Louima attorney Sanford Rubenstein said that Schwarz "does not walk out as
a free man. He walks out of the courthouse as a defendant ... in one of the most
brutal acts of police brutality in the history of this country," reported
news agencies.
Despite
his disappointment, Louima said that he would "fully cooperate" with
any further prosecution. Louima was a key prosecution witness in the first
trial.
"I
will fully cooperate with the prosecutors - federal and state - in any future
criminal prosecution regarding what happened to me, so that at the end of the
day, full justice will prevail to demonstrate to the world that our system of
justice does work," Louima told reporters at the Roney Palace Hotel in
Miami Beach, reported CNN.
Last
week's court decision reversing the convictions on Schwarz, Wiese and Bruder,
does not affect the $8.7 million settlement Louima reached last year with the
city of New York, his attorney, Sanford Rubenstein, has said.
Louima,
a Haitian immigrant, was tortured in a police station bathroom in 1997 following
his arrest in a melee outside a Brooklyn nightclub. Prosecutors in the cases
said a handcuffed Louima was pinned down as Volpe assaulted him in the patrol
car and sodomized him with a broken broomstick inside the 70th Precinct station
house. He suffered severe internal injuries.
Schwarz,
36, maintained his innocence throughout the trials, saying he was nowhere near
the bathroom. Volpe backed Schwarz’s claims. Schwarz, however, was convicted
of participating in the bathroom assault (holding Louima down) and, in a second
trial, for conspiring to cover up his role. He has served two years of his
15-year sentence.
The
appeals court said Schwarz must get a new trial because he was denied effective
assistance of counsel and because the jury was improperly exposed to prejudicial
information during deliberations.
Acting
U.S. Attorney Alan Vinegrad, the lead prosecutor in the case, has said the
government is prepared to retry the case against Schwarz. But he said he could
do nothing about the Wiese and Bruder convictions being tossed out.
The
Louima case and other high-profile incidents - including the 1999 death of an
unarmed West African immigrant, Amadou Diallo, in a hail of 41 bullet fired by
four white officers - ignited protests accusing police of singling out
minorities for abuse, often through racial profiling.
Louima's
case drew widespread attention to the issue of racial profiling and led to a
major shakeup of the New York Police Department (NYPD).
There
is also a pending federal inquiry into whether the NYPD's rank-and-file shields
abusive officers behind a "blue wall of silence." - blue being the
color of police officers’ uniforms.
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