Cop Convicted, 3 Cleared in N.Y. Brutality Case

Concluding a landmark police violence case, a New York officer was convicted Tuesday of holding a Haitian immigrant down in a precinct bathroom while another officer tortured him with a broomstick. But a federal jury acquitted three other officers charged in the explosive case.

In a scene raw with emotion, friends and family jeered and wept as Officer Charles Schwarz was found guilty of holding Abner Louima down while Officer Justin Volpe--who pleaded guilty two weeks ago--rammed the broken stick into Louima’s rectum. Officers Thomas Bruder and Thomas Wiese were found not guilty of beating up Louima in a patrol car, while Sgt. Michael Bellomo was acquitted on a charge of covering up the case. All the defendants had been accused of violating Louima’s federal civil rights.

After the verdict was read, one female juror began sobbing, and Schwarz, 33, glared at federal prosecutors. Meanwhile, family members of the three other officers cheered, flashing jubilant smiles across the packed Brooklyn courtroom.

Three of the officers, however, face additional federal charges of conspiring to cover up the attack.

The scene was further roiled by Volpe’s attorney, Marvyn Kornberg, who disclosed that before entering his plea, Volpe had given prosecutors the name of a second officer he claimed was in the bathroom during the attack--and that it wasn’t Schwarz. “They’ve convicted the wrong man,” Kornberg said.

Asst. U.S. Atty. Alan Vinegrad replied that Volpe, as “the perpetrator of one of the most horrific sexual assaults in modern history,” was not credible.

The monthlong trial attracted extraordinary attention in a city where satisfaction over a plunging crime rate has been tempered by concerns that police have not always treated suspects fairly--especially minorities. The case, which appalled New York ever since a tabloid columnist wrote about it 22 months ago, also focused a harsh spotlight on charges that police routinely cover up and shade the truth to protect one another.

Louima, 32, was not present for the verdict, but he said he was gratified by the decision. “While the verdict was not everything I wanted it to be, I am confident that complete justice will finally be done in my case,” he told reporters in a soft, shaking voice, flanked by the attorneys who are representing him in a $150-million civil lawsuit against New York City. “What happened to me shouldn’t happen to any human being.”

Reaction to the verdict, reached after 18 hours of deliberations, was mixed: New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani praised prosecutors and especially commended five police officers who had come forward to testify against Volpe and Schwarz. “Without the police testimony, it would have been a more difficult case,” he said, suggesting that the so-called police wall of silence had been cracked by the officers’ decision to speak out.

Yet others scoffed, saying the officers had only come forward because of political pressures to solve a case with such revolting details. Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., one of three attorneys representing Louima, said police culture must still be changed; he suggested that the upcoming trial of Schwarz, Wiese and Bruder on a count of conspiring to cover up the departmental investigation would illuminate that problem.

The Louima verdict is not likely to heal what has become a growing rift between New York police and minorities. The city still faces the case of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African peddler, who was killed in a hail of 41 police bullets earlier this year in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment building. Four white officers will stand trial on murder charges early next year.

Although Giuliani has vigorously defended the department’s record of openness and restraint, New York police are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and the state attorney general’s office.

“It took unspeakable pain and suffering for this incident to come to light,” said attorney Peter Neufeld, who also represents Louima. “So I don’t think the blue wall has been cracked. It’s just been unmasked.”

Like Volpe, who stunned onlookers by entering a guilty plea two weeks ago, Schwarz faces life in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eugene Nickerson in several months. Minutes after the verdict was read, he said a brief goodbye to family members before being taken into federal custody.

“It’s unfortunate. It’s the wrong verdict,” said Stephen Worth, Schwarz’ attorney. “I think [the Volpe plea] certainly hurt my client, and I know he didn’t do it. He’s in a state of disbelief now . . . he felt rage and anger because it’s everyone’s worst nightmare to be convicted of something he didn’t do.”

According to prosecutors, Louima was arrested Aug. 9, 1997, in a fracas outside a Brooklyn nightclub after police officers mistakenly concluded that he had struck Volpe.

Bruder, Wiese and Schwarz were accused of beating Louima, a security guard, in a police car. Then, prosecutors said, Volpe took the handcuffed Louima into a bathroom, his pants and underwear at his ankles, to brutalize him with the stick. In his guilty plea, Volpe said only that an unidentified officer was in the bathroom with him and did not stop the assault.

When it was over, Volpe told Louima not to tell anyone, threatening him with death if he spoke out. Desk Sgt. Bellomo was charged with covering up the incident when he was contacted by federal and police investigators.

The case was brought in federal court, in large part because the civil rights violation carries such a stiff penalty. During the trial, Louima gave powerful testimony about how he was tortured and left to bleed in a jailhouse cell. But he also admitted having lied about key details that were leaked to the press.

He also failed to positively identify Bruder and Wiese, and that clearly weighed heavily with jurors, said attorney Stephen London, who represents Bruder. In addition, prosecutors offered little evidence against Bellomo.

After the verdict, the three officers expressed relief to reporters, saying the case against them never materialized.

“I did nothing wrong that night,” Bruder said outside the courtroom. “I treated Mr. Louima like a gentleman that night.” Louima had testified that Bruder had come to his aid.

Others rallied around Louima, saying he had been vindicated by Volpe’s guilty plea and Schwarz’ conviction.

“The law does not require a victim of police brutality to be an angel,” said U.S. Attorney Zachary Carter, whose office prosecuted the case. “Only that their conduct did not legally provoke a violation of their civil rights.”

In a rally after the verdict, the Rev. Al Sharpton told Louima: “We are not going to just end with two convictions. We are going to fight for you, because with this verdict, the world knows you were telling the truth.”