I guess it pays to plead not guilty

http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/02/28/po...urn/index.html

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A U.S. federal appeals court overturned the convictions of three white police officers in the Abner Louima torture case Thursday, finding insufficient evidence they obstructed justice.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the convictions of Charles Schwarz, Thomas Wiese and Thomas Bruder. The ruling does not affect the conviction of the chief attacker, Justin Volpe, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Louima, a Haitian immigrant, was tortured in the bathroom of a police station in 1997 after he was arrested in a fight outside a Brooklyn nightclub. He suffered severe internal injuries.

Louima's case drew widespread attention to the issue of racial profiling and led to a major shakeup of the New York City Police Department. Charges against Louima were later dropped.

The court said that convictions against Schwarz, Wiese and Bruder at a second trial for conspiracy to obstruct justice must be thrown out because there was not enough evidence for the police to have been found guilty.

The appeals court also said Schwarz was denied effective assistance of counsel and jurors were exposed to prejudicial information.

It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would seek new trials in those cases.

Schwarz was sentenced in June to 151/2 years; Wiese and Bruder received five-year sentences for the conspiracy conviction but have been free on bond pending appeal.

Schwarz and Volpe were tried for conspiracy to deprive Louima of his civil rights by sexually assaulting him while Schwarz, Bruder and Wiese faced conspiracy to obstruct justice charges in a separate trial.

Schwarz had maintained his innocence throughout, and said he was nowhere near the bathroom. Volpe had backed him up.

"I'm thrilled," said Schwarz's lawyer, Ron Fischetti. "There's no other reaction. This has gone on for two years and eight months. This man is absolutely innocent."

Fischetti said he will seek bail for Schwarz, who is being held in Oklahoma City, "as soon as we possibly can."

"I am numb, I am shocked," said Eileen Bruno, Schwarz's sister. "Justice has finally prevailed, and we want those people held responsible who framed my brother."

Approached on the driveway of his home in Miami, Louima said little about the ruling.

"Actually, I'm talking with my attorney, so I don't have any comment at this time," he said.

"He wants to live his life, like any of us would want to live their lives, without any further need to comment," Rubenstein said.

But Louima will cooperate with federal authorities in any retrials, the lawyer added.

Wiese's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, described his reaction as "utter joy, perhaps the happiest moment in my professional life. Wiese became part of my family.

"The second trial should have been a no-contest, but we were prevented from getting a fair trial. The second circuit, in their infinite wisdom, appreciated that justice was perverted in that second trial."

Tacopina described his client as "ecstatic."

Volpe's attorney, Marvin Kornberg, said the decision does not alter his client's conviction, but could lead to a reduced sentence for him.

"It now means that in his second trial against Schwarz, he will be able to take the stand ... and tell the story as to who was in the bathroom with him," Kornberg said.

Volpe had always said it was not Schwarz who was with him, Kornberg said. Though he told that to the U.S. attorney, the information never was presented to the jury. "The failure to bring that forth to the jury at that time may have been the cause of the jury finding Schwarz guilty," he said.

Kornberg predicted the new trial would begin within six months, at which his client "will be able to ask the judge for a downward departure with respect to the amount of time he has to stay in jail."

Told of Kornberg's reaction, Louima lawyer Rubenstein said, "Let's not lose sight of what happened here. Abner was a victim of an assault by Justin Volpe that was perhaps one of the worst examples of police brutality in the history of this country."