Prosecutors created a "mess" by compelling three of the seven police officers charged in deadly bridge shootings in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath to testify before the grand jury that later indicted them, the judge presiding over the case said Friday.

NNS/Times-Picayune /Landov

Lance Madison is shown being arrested on Sept. 4, 2005, after gunfire erupted on the Danziger Bridge in east New Orleans.

Attorneys for Sgt. Kenneth Bowen and officers Mike Hunter Jr. and Ignatius Hills claim prosecutors improperly used their clients' court-ordered grand jury testimony to secure indictments against them.

The officers' lawyers are asking Judge Raymond Bigelow to throw out the murder or attempted murder charges they face following the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings on the Danziger Bridge that killed two men and wounded four other people.

Bigelow didn't rule Friday on that motion to quash the charges, but the judge pressed Assistant District Attorney Dustin Davis to explain why prosecutors compelled the officers to testify if they already had other evidence and testimony to implicate them in the shootings.

"It created a whole problem for everybody involved," Bigelow said.

Davis said the officers' indictments are based on evidence from other sources. He conceded, however, that forcing the officers to testify under court orders that gave them limited immunity "has certainly created a lot of confusion."

"I'm confused," Bigelow said.

"However, it is permissible," Davis responded.

The officers' lawyers claim prosecutors couldn't have built cases against their clients without using their testimony against them.

"We've got to know what happened throughout these grand jury proceedings in order to litigate these motions on behalf of our clients," said Townsend Myers, Hunter's attorney.

Defense attorneys want Bigelow to order prosecutors to turn over transcripts of the grand jury proceedings. Davis argued they must remain secret. However, a New Orleans police lieutenant who helped investigate the Danziger shootings testified Friday that Davis showed him some of Bowen's testimony.

"They have the audacity to come to this courtroom and hide behind the secrecy of the grand jury while they violated it," said Frank DeSalvo, Bowen's attorney.

Bigelow didn't immediately rule on whether defense attorneys are entitled to the transcripts, but the judge said Lt. Michael Lohman's testimony suggests the grand jury was "not quite as secret as we thought it was."

The judge gave prosecutors until a March 29 hearing to review the transcripts and present a written argument for withholding them from defense attorneys.

Bowen, Sgt. Robert Gisevius Jr., officer Anthony Villavaso II and former officer Robert Faulcon Jr. face first-degree murder charges and attempted murder charges. Hunter and Officer Robert Barrios are charged with attempted first-degree murder, and Hills is charged with attempted second-degree murder.

Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old mentally retarded man, and James Brissette, 19, were shot and killed by police on the bridge.

Police said the indicted officers came under fire when they responded to a report of other officers being attacked. Police also claimed Madison was reaching for a gun, but Madison's brother, Lance, denies he or his brother was armed.

At least two of Madison's relatives attended Friday's court hearing.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)