Jeffrey Lehrmann, a former New Orleans police officer, testified on Monday that he participated in a cover-up of the Danziger Bridge shooting, which occurred six days after Hurricane Katrina.
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Lehrmann has pleaded guilty in the case, admitting to misprision of a felony, or not reporting a crime. He has been sentenced to three years in federal prison, the maximum for the crime.
As Reported By AP:
A former police detective testified Monday that he participated in a plot to fabricate witnesses, falsify reports and plant a gun to make it seem police were justified in shooting unarmed residents on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina.
Jeffrey Lehrmann, a government witness in the federal trial of five current or former officers, said he saw Sgt. Arthur “Archie” Kaufman retrieve a gun from his home several weeks after the deadly shootings on the Danziger Bridge. Kaufman later turned the gun in as evidence, claiming he found it under the bridge a day after the 2005 shootings that left two people dead and four others wounded.
Lehrmann said Kaufman instructed him to fill out paperwork that claimed the gun belonged to Lance Madison, whose mentally disabled brother, Ronald, was shot and killed on the bridge. Lance Madison was arrested on attempted murder charges and held for more than three weeks before a judge freed him.
Lehrmann said Kaufman, his supervisor, had grown concerned because the judge who freed Madison didn’t believe Kaufman’s testimony at the hearing.
“Therefore, we needed a gun,” Lehrmann said.
Lehrmann said Sgts. Robert Gisevius and Kenneth Bowen joined him and Kaufman when they drove to Kaufman’s house to retrieve a gun. Kaufman emerged from his garage carrying the gun in a brown paper bag, calling it a “ham sandwich,” Lehrmann said.
Kaufman’s attorney, Stephen London, suggested during cross-examination that Lehrmann was trying to shift blame to his client and has changed his story over time. Lehrmann accused London of “nitpicking,” while London chided Lehrmann for smiling during his testimony.
Lehrmann, who already has been sentenced to three years in prison, is one of five former officers who pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up. He is the fourth of those officers to testify at the trial, now entering its third week.
SOURCE: AP
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Jeffrey Lehrmann, a former New Orleans police officer, testified on Monday that he participated in a cover-up of the Danziger Bridge shooting.
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Ronald Madison’s brother Lance is arrested by police teams on September 4, 2005, after an alleged shootout on the Danziger Bridge in New Orleans.
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Retired Sgt. Arthur “Archie” Kaufman has been accused by former colleague Jeffrey Lehrmann.
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Family of Ronald Madison.
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Lorna Madison, right, sister of Ronald Madison, who was killed by New Orleans police on the Danziger Bridge in Hurricane Katrina.
