12471: NY Times: Both Sides Rest in Schwarz Case (Louima) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

 NY Times


July 4, 2002
Prosecution and Defense Rest in Retrial of Schwarz
By WILLIAM GLABERSON


Prosecutors and defense lawyers both completed the
presentation of their evidence yesterday in the retrial of
Charles Schwarz, the former police officer accused of
taking part in the assault on Abner Louima. Jury
deliberations are to begin next week.

Mr. Louima himself was recalled as the final witness to
testify about the seemingly clear-cut subject of his own
height, one of the many small points that have become murky
in a case that turns on details.

So much of the trial has been a war of interpretation that
the lawyers' "summations are going to be critical," the
chief defense lawyer, Ronald P. Fischetti, said to the
judge after the completion of the testimony yesterday.

The judge, Reena Raggi, has scheduled the summations for
Monday, when each side will present its narrative in United
States District Court in Brooklyn. The jurors are expected
to get the case on Tuesday.

Mr. Schwarz is charged with conspiring to violate and with
violating Mr. Louima's civil rights by restraining him
while another officer, Justin A. Volpe, sodomized Mr.
Louima with a broken broomstick in the early morning hours
of Aug. 9, 1997, at the 70th Precinct stationhouse in
Flatbush.

Mr. Schwarz also faces two perjury counts asserting that he
made false statements at one of his two previous trials in
denying that he led Mr. Louima to a stationhouse bathroom
and in denying that he was present during the attack in the
bathroom. He was serving a 15-year sentence when he was
released after his two previous convictions were overturned
in February. He could receive a similar sentence if
convicted again.

The defense rested yesterday without calling Mr. Schwarz to
testify. The prosecutors then recalled Mr. Louima, who was
the first witness when the case began June 24.

Yesterday's testimony on Mr. Louima's height turned on one
of the pivotal details of the case. The defense has long
focused on a report prepared by the police investigator who
conducted the first detailed interview with Mr. Louima, in
a hospital three days after the attack.

The defense view of the report by the investigator, Lt.
Reinaldo Daniels of the police Internal Affairs Bureau, is
that it proves the prosecutors have made an error in
charging that Mr. Schwarz was the second officer in the
bathroom with Mr. Volpe.

The report said the second officer was "male, white, light
crew cut hair. Louima states that he is about 5-foot-7."
Mr. Schwarz is about 6-foot-1. His former partner, Thomas
Wiese, is about 5-foot-8.

Mr. Schwarz's defense lawyers maintain that Mr. Wiese was
in the bathroom and that Mr. Schwarz was not. They say
Lieutenant Daniels's report is a critical piece of evidence
because it suggests Mr. Louima was describing Mr. Wiese and
not Mr. Schwarz.

Called as a defense witness before Mr. Louima took the
stand yesterday, Lieutenant Daniels acknowledged that the
report did include the language cited by the defense. He
contended that he had meant that Mr. Louima had described
himself as "about 5-foot-7."

The chief prosecutor, Alan Vinegrad, then called Mr. Louima
as a rebuttal witness to provide the details about his
height.

Mr. Louima described how he had long thought that he was
5-foot-6, and that he thought so at the time of his 1997
interview with Lieutenant Daniels. In 1999, Mr. Louima
said, when getting a New York State driver's license, he
had been measured again and discovered that he is actually
5-foot-9.



Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company | Permissions |
Privacy Policy

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sign up for SBC Yahoo! Dial - First Month Free
http://sbc.yahoo.com