#4404: Officer Convicted in Louima Case (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

Thursday June 22 12:40 AM ET  Officer Convicted in Louima Case

 NEW YORK (AP) - A policeman was convicted Wednesday of lying to
 investigators to avoid becoming a ``rat'' in the case against patrolmen
who tortured a prisoner in a precinct house's bathroom.  The jury
deliberated two days in Brooklyn federal court before delivering a split
verdict, finding Francisco Rosario guilty of two counts of conspiring 
with his partner to make false statements to the FBI  six weeks after
the 1997 assault of Abner Louima. He was acquitted of a third count that
charged he lied again in a later interrogation. Rosario became the sixth
officer to either be convicted at trial or plead guilty in one of the
worst brutality scandals in city history. The 1997 attack on Louima, a
black Haitian immigrant, sparked protests and prompted a Justice
Department investigation into whether the New York Police Department
fosters abuse of minorities by not cracking down on excessive force.
Prosecutors had accused Rosario of lying because he ``did not want to be
labeled a rat.'' Defense attorney Richard Levitt said Rosario would
appeal. Rosario faces up to five years in prison; no sentencing date was
set.