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NOPD faces long rap sheet
Tallahassee Democrat ^ | Oct. 26, 2005 | LEE HANCOCK

Posted on 10/26/2005 4:01:31 PM PDT by ncountylee

NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans police have long had a reputation for violence and corruption.

Three officers were convicted of civil rights violations in a trial moved to a Dallas federal court after a police rampage through the West Bank neighborhood of Algiers in 1980 left four civilians dead and 50 injured. The incident was sparked by the slaying of a police officer.

Ten years later, a man accused of killing an officer in a shootout was fatally beaten shortly after being taken into custody. The city settled a civil rights lawsuit filed by the man's family, but no officers were disciplined.

In 1993, the department's chief of detectives was fired after his ties to a mob-connected gaming company became public. He eventually was sentenced to federal prison for bankruptcy fraud.

In 1994, as the city was gripped by what would be the nation's worst urban murder rate, an outsider was brought in to reform the department. The new chief, Richard Pennington, had just arrived in New Orleans from Washington D.C., when a New Orleans officer nicknamed "Robocop" was caught ordering the slaying of Kim Groves in the city's crime-ridden 9th Ward. Groves had reported the officer, Len Davis, and his partner to internal affairs for beating a neighborhood youth.

(Excerpt) Read more at tallahassee.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: katrina; nopd

1 posted on 10/26/2005 4:01:32 PM PDT by ncountylee
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To: ncountylee

Damn....corruption runs deep in that department.


2 posted on 10/26/2005 4:07:04 PM PDT by Arpege92 ("I am happy, be it yourselves." - Pope John Paul II)
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To: ncountylee
Former N.O. cop, Len Davis, again sentenced to death
3 posted on 10/26/2005 4:08:59 PM PDT by caryatid (All good things which exist are the fruits of originality. [John Stuart Mill])
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To: ncountylee
a man accused of killing an officer in a shootout was fatally beaten shortly after being taken into custody.

So?

4 posted on 10/26/2005 4:10:22 PM PDT by CAWats (I don't have any confidence in my ability to fail - Kenneth Copeland)
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To: CAWats

So an accusation is not a conviction and the police are not the executors of a sentence even if it were.


5 posted on 10/26/2005 4:14:18 PM PDT by thoughtomator
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To: ncountylee

New Orleans, like any Democrat-controlled city or state, is somewhere that the rule of "Never trust a policeman" is paramount to anyone with one good eye and a grain of sense.


6 posted on 10/26/2005 4:18:03 PM PDT by Emmett McCarthy
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To: thoughtomator

The cop was killed in a shootout with the suspect. Gee. It must have been a one-arm man.


7 posted on 10/26/2005 4:19:23 PM PDT by CAWats (I don't have any confidence in my ability to fail - Kenneth Copeland)
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To: caryatid
More From The Times-Picayune | Subscribe To The Times-Picayune From The Archives » Click Here For The Latest Posts Wednesday, October 26, 2005 Former N.O. cop, Len Davis, again sentenced to death
8 posted on 10/26/2005 4:29:48 PM PDT by caryatid (All good things which exist are the fruits of originality. [John Stuart Mill])
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To: ncountylee

"...after a police rampage through the West Bank neighborhood of Algiers in 1980 left four civilians dead and 50 injured."

Dang, sounds like something out of the Israeli/Muslim conflict.


9 posted on 10/26/2005 4:33:28 PM PDT by Firefigher NC (Volunteer firefighters- standing tall, serving proud in the tradition of Ben Franklin.)
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To: ncountylee

****Ten years later, a man accused of killing an officer in a shootout was fatally beaten shortly after being taken into custody. The city settled a civil rights lawsuit filed by the man's family, but no officers were disciplined.****

I dont know what the settlement was but it was probably cheaper than keeping a man on death row for 15 years going thru numerous court appeals and then executing him.

Of course the guy had a right to a trial, they should have waited till he was convicted.


10 posted on 10/26/2005 4:37:50 PM PDT by sgtbono2002
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To: CAWats

Then if they wanted revenge despite their sworn duty and in defiance of the law they should have shot him dead on the spot and not taken him into custody.


11 posted on 10/26/2005 4:40:04 PM PDT by thoughtomator
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To: ncountylee
____________________ police have long had a reputation
(Insert the name of any
large US city) for violence and corruption.

No news here folks; move along
12 posted on 10/26/2005 4:46:54 PM PDT by kublia khan (Absolute war brings total victory)
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To: CAWats

>>>" a man accused of killing an officer in a shootout was fatally beaten shortly after being taken into custody"<<<


>>>"So?"<<<

The Officer was NOPD so he should have gotten a Medal, not beaten to death


13 posted on 10/26/2005 5:45:36 PM PDT by TexasTransplant (NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSET)
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To: CAWats

So, if they wanted him dead, he should have died in the shootout, not in custody.

It is unwarrented to beat someone to death just because you didn't spend enough time on the range.


14 posted on 10/26/2005 7:23:10 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Mohamophages of the world, unite!)
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To: sgtbono2002; ncountylee
... it was probably cheaper than keeping a man on death row for 15 years going thru numerous court appeals and then executing him.

From The Times Picayune October 26, 2005:

Former N.O. cop, Len Davis, again sentenced to death

Former New Orleans police officer Len Davis was sentenced to death Wednesday for ordering the 1994 execution of a woman who had filed a brutality complaint against him. The hearing was a mere formality following a jury’s unanimous verdict in August returning Davis to federal death row.

Davis’ original death sentence was overturned in 1999 by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ordered a rehearing after tossing out Davis’ conviction for tampering with a federal witness. The appeals panel, however, upheld convictions for conspiracy and violation of civil rights by murder. Based on the ruling, a new jury was selected to determine whether the ex-cop should serve the rest of his life in prison or die by lethal injection.

Davis was issued his penalty by U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan in a hearing moved from New Orleans to Baton Rouge because of Hurricane Katrina.

Paul Hardy, the triggerman who fatally shot Kim Groves on Davis’ orders, also was removed from death row based on the 5th Circuit’s ruling. Hardy’s resentencing hearing is scheduled for later this year.

15 posted on 10/26/2005 8:52:47 PM PDT by caryatid (Can't put sense in a fool's brain ... [Rex Stout/Nero Wolfe])
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To: caryatid

Already on their way to the obligatopry 15 years. Should have gotten the Juice 6 months after conviction.


16 posted on 10/27/2005 3:54:14 AM PDT by sgtbono2002
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