anthony Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 Federal Appeals Court Overturns Convictions Of Three Officers In Louima Case FEBRUARY 28TH, 2002Filed at 11:00 a.m. A federal appeals court has overturned the convictions of three police officers in the 1997 Abner Louima torture case. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of appeals on Thursday overturned the convictions of Charles Schwarz, Thomas Wiese and Thomas Bruder, who were all found guilty of charges stemming from the assault on the Haitian immigrant. The appeals court says the convictions are being overturned because of insufficient evidence. The court says Schwarz's civil rights conviction must also be thrown out and a new trial ordered because Schwarz was denied effective counsel and the jury was exposed to prejudicial information during deliberations. Schwarz was convicted of holding down Louima while another officer, Justin Volpe, sodomized the handcuffed prisoner with a broken broomstick in Brooklyn’s 70th Precinct bathroom in August 1997. Schwarz denied being in the bathroom when Volpe carried out the attack, but after Volpe pleaded guilty a jury convicted Schwarz in 1999 of violating Louima's civil rights by restraining him during the assault. Schwarz is serving a 15-year sentence; Volpe pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years. Bruder and Thomas Wiese were sentenced to five years for conspiracy to obstruct justice, but were released pending an appeal. NY1 will have more information on this breaking story as soon as it becomes available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunnelbandit Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 It's a fucking shame!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigpoppanils Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 insufficient evidence?yeah rightlooks like someone's on the take Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclebuc Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 Its not a shame if they had no part in it. Weiss always said that he was not there. Volpe even said that Weiss wasn't there. But there will probably be a new trial anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
workenonlife Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 the court system is wack i remember when i was 15 i broke some 24 year olds jaw and i was fighten a cop and they charged me with aggravated assult on a offcer and on the guyt he guy 1 got droped down to a simple assult how ever u spell and i did 2 yeas in jvc then had probation till i was 20 that some fuked up sh1t i hit this fagget once and i didn't even hit the cop we like wrestled a lil LoL and i had a total of like 5 years off sh1t from the courts fuken dumb sh1t i must say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gothzane Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 remind me not to mess with you...i kinda like my jaw.Law is wierd...its okay till your under the flame.then it sucks ass.Everyone is on the take...one way or another.anyone who denies it...is taking more then everyone else.Whether their taking money, political power, protection from blackmail......man..everyones fucked....just keep your head down and maybe youll live through the governments bs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmissbliss Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 i just think the judicial system is fucked up here. how many people are wrongly imprisoned and how many are wrongly sentanced to death? it happens all the time. they just had this thing on cnn.com yesterday (i read cnn.com compulsively) about a guy who had been wrongly imprisoned for 14 years over a rape case, and he was finally freed after DNA testing proved he was innocent. it's sad, man, 14 years?? why did it take so long for them to do the DNA test? DNA testing wasn't invented yesterday.but i'm even more opposed to the death penalty. if i believed in god i'd say it's god who decides when we are born and when we die, it's not for us to take into our own hands. but since i don't, i'll say this -- humans are fallible, and even to wrongly take ONE person's life -- that should be enough for ppl to wake up and say there is somehting wrong with our system of "justice".not trying to start a flame war, just my .02C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o-jay® Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 Don't rely on a news article before passing judgment. Read the actual court opinion: http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/getcase/2nd/case/001479v3%26exact%3D1 You'll learn the legal basis for why this happened. It was only reversed on the issue of obstruction of justice. On the civil rights violations there will be a new trial. This was a clear case from a *legal* standpoint. Remember, three federal appeals court judges agreed on this case. That's rare. It's fucked up indeed, but that's the way the legal system works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassa Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 This is bullshit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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