5 Apr 2012

New Orleans policemen jailed

2:57 pm on 5 April 2012

Four former New Orleans policemen have been given sentences ranging from 38 to 65 years in prison after being convicted of shooting dead two people and wounding four others in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

A fifth former police officer who did not participate in the shootings but engineered a four year cover-up of the crimes was sentenced to six years.

The sentencing of the five men completed one of the last cases of police misconduct in New Orleans, more than six years after the hurricane.

In reports filed by the officers or on their behalf, they claimed they shot only after being threatened or fired on and that they had seen weapons in the victims' hands.

One of the officers was later convicted of planting a handgun at the scene.