#2270: Louima Is Grilled On Changes (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

From: News and Views | Crime File |
Wednesday, February 09, 2000
Louima Is Grilled On Changes  By HELEN PETERSON Daily News Staff Writer

 Defense lawyers hammered away at Abner Louima yesterday, grilling the
Haitian immigrant about differing accounts he has given of his torture
at the hands of cops. On his second day of testimony at the trial of
three cops accused of trying to cover up part of the brutal attack,
Louima admitted giving inconsistent testimony.Prosecutors in Brooklyn
Federal Court sought to blame the various accounts on Louima's poor
health and mental anguish  in the days after he was initially questioned
about the Aug. 9, 1997, assault, which occurred in a bathroom at the
70th Precinct stationhouse.
But Louima seemed to have trouble explaining why he failed  to mention
that someone opened and closed the bathroom  door just before Ex-Officer
Justin Volpe shoved a wooden stick into his rectum. Louima was sodomized
by Volpe after being arrested outside a Brooklyn nightclub. Volpe
pleaded guilty during his trial. Another former cop, Charles Schwarz,
was convicted last year of holding Louima down during the attack.     
When a defense lawyer asked Louima why he didn't mention a third person
when he testified before three grand juries and at trial last year,
Louima said, "I didn't remember it at that time."