Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 20 April 2006 — Page 29

The Muncie Times • April 20, 2006 • Page 29

NEWS BRIEFS

continued from page 23 press conferences, news appearances and interviews, McKinney apologized on the House floor April 6. Activists applaud decision to keep convicted Louima molester in jail NEW YORK-"It's chickens come home t o roost," retired corrections officer Charles Billups told the AmNews, reflecting on a judge's ruling last week that a jailed cop involved in the horrific Abner Louima rape and torture case will not be released early as argued by his counsel. "It is no more than justice prevailing for once," said Billups. "Charles Schwarz should be serving much time for his involvement with Justin Volpe in that heinous crime, which everyone throughout the city felt for a long time. He was connected to it even though he may have not committed the actual crime; he knew about it; he didn't stop it; and he didn't come forward in the beginning." Last Wednesday, Appeals Court Judge Reena Raggi slammed Schwarz for his complete lack of remorse, noting that his lies "were the first link in a chain that caused tremendous problems in this city." "I think justice is still prevailing. I think it was an excellent decision that he was not released just because he was a former cop," said Casilda RoperSimpson, one of Louima's original attorneys. "I think that this was a good decision. This has been one of the few times

that the court did the right thing in a case like this involving the police and a Black victim," observed the Rev. A1 Sharpton. "The judge said that Schwarz showed no remorse and that the evidence proved that he was involved." The case began when patrons spilled out of a Haitian nightclub in August 1997. Louima apparently protested some rough treatment by Volpe and other officers. The back and forth led to one of the most notorious cases in modern NYPD history. Prosecuting the case in Brooklyn federal court was then Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Thompson. He told the jury that Louima was beaten by four cops, in a patrol car and in a bathroom, where he was tortured, in the 70th Precinct stationhouse in Flatbush. Uncomfortable and stomach-churning as it was to hear, Thompson told the jury that the injuries to Louima's internal organs were so bad that he was passing feces from his penis and urine from his anus. Volpe, he said, "shoved a [broken broomstick] up [Louima's] rectum, tearing his insides apart." Schwarz, he said, "beat Abner Louima and then helped Justin Volpe torture him, holding him down while he cried out in pain." Officers Thomas B ruder and Thomas Wiese beat the Haitian immigrant in a patrol car, he charged. Sgt. Michael Bellomo was tried for lying to the feds in the case. The" federal civil rights trial came in the wake of

the indictment of Street Crimes Unit cops Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy for killing Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo in a hail of 41 bullets in February 1999. It was a tense time for the city, and some sought to hold accountable the administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Five years after the sodomy, and numerous court appearances, and after Volpe's attorney Marvyn Komberg insinuated that Louima got his extensive injuries from consensual homosexual sex, in 2002 Volpe finally pleaded guilty to violating Louima's civil rights. Volpe was sentenced to a 30-year term; Schwarz initially got a 15-year term for holding Louima during the attack; Wiese and Bruder were convicted of lying and were fired. In 2001 ex-cops Francisco Rosario and Rolando Aleman were sentenced to probation for lying in the case. Some have argued that Schwarz already caught a break when his original 15-year-sentence conviction was overturned and he was set for a retrial. In October 2002, in an unusual Saturday night session in federal court, Schwarz struck a deal, receiving a 5year term for perjury. U.S. Attorney Zachary Carter's office recommended the term be reduced by 1 year if Schwarz complied with certain conditions, including not violating a gag order. In return, prosecutors dropped the charges that Schwarz held Louima down as Volpe sodomized him.

But prison officials recently told prosecutors that the early release law was only for terminally ill inmates. National Action Network general counsel Michael Hardy told the AmNews that he was not surprised that Raggi refused to reduce the sentence for Schwarz: "She was not swayed by the New York Post or Fox News, and she made it very clear to Schwarz that she believed that not only was he guilty, but that he was involved. She said that somebody had to assist Volpe as he sodomized Louima, and either you did or it was somebody you refused to name.'" Her decision means that Schwarz will serve at least 85 percent of his time. Opponents wary of possible U.S. attack on Iranian targets Critics of the Bush administration have expressed alarm over reports that the president is considering a military strike to knock out Iran's nuclear program. Anthony Zinni, a retired general and former head of the U.S. Central Command, told CNN on Sunday that a pre-emptive strike on Iran would be extremely risky "Any military plan involving Iran is going to be very difficult. We should not fool ourselves to think it will just be a strike and then it will be over," said Zinni. "The Iranians will retaliate and they have many possibilities in an area where there are many vulnerabilities, from our troop

positions to the oil and gas in the region that can be interrupted, to attacks on Israel, to the conduct of terrorism." But he said he had no detailed knowledge of the alleged military plans. U.S. Sen.John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democratic senator and former presidential contender, also assailed the White House for what he said was its over reliance on military might. " That is another example of the shoot-from-the-hip, cowboy diplomacy of this administration. "For us to think about exploding tactical nuclear weapons in some way is the height of irresponsibility. It would be destructive to any non-proliferation efforts and the military assessment is: It would not work," Kerry told NBC television. Both men made their remarks after the publication of two media reports last weekend that said President George W. Bush was seriously considering military action against Iran, including using nuclear weapons, because of a stalemate in diplomatic efforts. But the Bush administration said Sunday that its priority was to seek a diplomatic solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions. A senior official labeled the reports "ill-informed", although he stopped short of an outright denial. "The president's priority is to find a diplomatic solution to a problem the entire worm recognizes," the official said. "And those who are continued on page 32