NEW ORLEANS -- Former NOPD detective Jeffery Lehrmann has pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony for his involvement in the cover-up of the shootings on the Danziger Bridge days after Hurricane Katrina struck the city.
Misprison of a felony means that Officer Lehrmann knew about a felony and failed to report it.
"[Lehrmann] accepts responsibility, and the consequences, for his actions. Mr. Lehrmann extends his sincerest apology to the Danziger Bridge victims," said Davidson S. Ehle, Lehrmann's attorney. "He wants sympathy and justice for the victims to command the attention of all the officers involved in this case."
Lehrmann is the second New Orleans Police Officer to plead guilty to cover-up of the shootings that left two people dead and injured four in the post-Katrina chaos which descended on the city. According to federal prosecutors, NOPD officers maintained that they were shot at first and returned fire in self-defense.
In the unsealed Bill of Information, Lehrmann “knew of a conspiracy among police officers to obstruct justice ... engage in misleading conduct..., concealed the conspiracy...and participated in the creation of false reports."
“The east side shooting resulted in the death of one civilian and the wounding of four others. A second shooting on the west side resulted in the death of Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old severely disabled man. Madison’s brother, Lance, was arrested on eight counts of attempting to kill police officers, only to be later released without indictment,” said a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“It is a start for this city to see that justice can be provided for all of the citizens. Hopefully we’ll gain the trust that we once had in our law enforcement and judicial system,” said Romell Madison, whose brother, Ronald, was killed on the bridge.
On Feb. 24, former NOPD Lt. Michael Lohman pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct justice. Lohman admitted to being part of the cover-up, which included the creating of false reports and stories by officers, lying to and misleading federal agents and the planting of a gun at the bridge in an attempt to justify the shootings.
“In all my years as a supervisory assistant district attorney, chief criminal division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and almost 20 years on the federal bench, I have neither imagined nor heard of more treacherous or despicable conduct by law enforcement officers than that which was described today,” said Judge Lance Africk to Lehrman.
"The judge's comments really couldn't have been said any better," said Madison. "It was very good, all encompassing, just as Mr. Letten's statements were all encompassing about what is happening."
In the factual basis, which Lehrmann signed, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said, “details events like the fabrication of witnesses, names and the identification of witnesses who did not exist.”
Letten said that Lehrmann and Lohman are both cooperating with federal investigators.
"It is during times of crisis that we must, all of us must be most cognizant of our obligations to our integrity, to the citizens that we serve, to the duties that we have and not let that stress erode or diminish that at all,".
The fallout from Lehrmann’s guilty may spread beyond the scope of the Danziger Bridge shootings, as he was also the lead detective in the Michael Anderson case, who was convicted of killing five people in Central City in 2006, which was thrown out by Judge Lynda Van Davis.
Earlier, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro acknowledged Lehrmann’s expected guilty plea but still praised his work on the Anderson case.
“Just because Mr. Lehrmann may have done wrong, may have violated the law in regard to one case, that does not mean that he violated the law with regard to every case that he was involved in. Just like we can't say that every member of the New Orleans Police Department are bad.”
