NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An agent who led the FBI's investigation of deadly police shootings on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina testified Tuesday that he didn't find any evidence someone shot at the bridge from a nearby grassy area, discounting a scenario that could support officers' claims they took fire before shooting.
During his second day of testimony at the trial of five current or former officers, FBI Special Agent William Bezak said he photographed possible bullet marks on the Danziger Bridge's concrete barrier and metal railing from the grassy area because it appeared a shot could have come from there.
"It appeared to line up," Bezak said during cross-examination by Eric Hessler, an attorney for Sgt. Robert Gisevius.
"It fits like a glove," Hessler said.
"That's why I took the photograph," Bezak responded.
But the agent said he ruled out that possibility after an FBI ballistics expert examined the scene and determined the mark on the railing couldn't have come from that direction.
"I have no reason to believe any bullets were fired from that grassy area," Bezak said.
Defense attorneys claim officers were shot at on the bridge before they returned fire, killing two people and wounding four others several days after the 2005 storm.
Prosecutors say police shot unarmed people as they lay wounded on a walkway behind the concrete barrier on the east side of the bridge. Officers also allegedly conspired to plant a gun, fabricate witnesses and falsify reports to make the shootings appear justified.
Sgt. Arthur Kaufman, who is charged in the alleged cover-up, told federal authorities he found a gun in the grass next to the bridge a day after the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings. But prosecutors say Kaufman retrieved the gun from his home several weeks afterward and tried to pass it off as a weapon belonging to Lance Madison, whose 40-year-old, mentally disabled brother, Ronald, was shot and killed by police.
Defense lawyers lashed out at Bezak for criticizing gaps in the investigation that Kaufman conducted in the storm's chaotic aftermath. Kaufman and other officers were still rescuing residents trapped by the storm's floodwaters when the shootings occurred, said his attorney, Stephen London.
"You thought he should drop all that to work on this case?" London asked.
"Absolutely," Bezak said.
Paul Fleming, an attorney for former officer Robert Faulcon, asked Bezak how many people he would be "willing to allow die" so police could have spent more time on the shootings probe. U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt interrupted and sustained a prosecutor's objection before Bezak could answer that question.
Earlier in the trial, jurors heard testimony that Gisevius, one of the officers charged in the bridge shootings, was involved in a separate shooting in the storm's aftermath.
Two former officers, both of whom have pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up, testified that Gisevius told them he had fired at people who tried to take a truck he was driving. One of those former officers, Ignatius Hills, said Gisevius told him he killed the person he shot.
Bezak said he believed Gisevius was involved in a second shooting but didn't have any physical evidence to support that suspicion.
"I couldn't find enough information to justify a separate investigation of that incident," he said.
Sgt. Kenneth Bowen and Officer Anthony Villavaso also are charged in the shootings.
Robert Barrios, one of five former officers who pleaded guilty to helping cover up the shootings, hasn't testified during the trial. Frank DeSalvo, Bowen's attorney, asked Bezak if it was true that Barrios' wife complained to U.S. Attorney Jim Letten that her husband felt pressured to plead guilty and "didn't do those things."
"Something to that effect," Bezak said.
However, Bezak said he spoke to Barrios' attorney and was assured there wasn't a problem.
The trial is scheduled to resume Thursday with a third day of testimony by Bezak. After jurors left the courtroom Tuesday, Engelhardt chided the attorneys for the pace of the proceedings, saying he expected Bezak to finish testifying Monday.
"Your estimates of time and how long things take are just fantasy land," he said.