Press Releases
EX-NEW ORLEANS POLICE OFFICER PLEADS GUILTY TO CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
April 4, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DONALD BATTISTE, an ex-New Orleans police officer, pled guilty on Wednesday before U. S. District Judge Carl Barbier in federal court to two-counts of violation of the Civil Rights Act , announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten today.
Specifically, DONALD BATTISTE pled guilty to depriving another of the federally-protected rights to be free from unreasonable seizure and from use of unreasonable force, while he was acting under color of law. Each count carries a maximum statutory penalty of five (5) years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, or both, along with three (3) years of supervised release and a $100 special assessment fee.
According to the factual basis, BATTISTE, while on duty and in uniform on October 6, 2006, robbed and beat a person who posed as an itinerant worker, but who was actually a decoy in a sting operation, or “integrity check,” conducted by the New Orleans Police Department’s Public Integrity Bureau. The incident was monitored by PIB agents and, in addition, was captured on video tape.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael McMahon of the Strike Force Unit and was investigated by the New Orleans Police Department’s Public Integrity Bureau.
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