Former New Orleans police officer Ignatius Hills told jurors in the Danziger Bridge police shooting case on Thursday that he fired his service pistol at a person who fled the barrage of gunfire that exploded after officers arrived that day.
Hills would later find out that person was Leonard Bartholomew IV, a 14-year-old whose parents and sister were severely wounded in the incident. Last spring, Hills pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and misprision of a felony, agreeing to cooperate with federal prosecutors.
On Thursday, Hills took the stand, the first member of the so-called Danziger 7 to do so. Federal prosecutor Theodore Carter asked him whether firing his weapon that day was reasonable.
“Did this individual do anything to threaten you?” Carter asked. “No,” Hills replied.
“Did he threaten your life in any way?” Carter asked. “No,” Hills replied.
“Was that a justified shoot?” Carter asked. “No,” Hills replied.
Defense attorney Eric Hessler was more pointed, saying to Hills: “You tried to shoot and kill an unarmed 14-year-old boy who was running away from you? Why would you do that?”
Hills responded that he acted “out of fear,” describing his surroundings as “an intense situation.”
Hessler, who represents Sgt. Robert Gisevius, noted that that in an earlier interview with an FBI agent, Hills said that he fired his weapon because he felt threatened by the boy.
Gisevius, along with three other officers — Sgt. Kenneth Bowen, officer Anthony Villavaso and former officer Robert Faulcon — are accused of unlawfully shooting at the Bartholomew family. In that incident, a 17-year-old boy died. Four people were wounded.
Faulcon is also accused of fatally shooting 40-year-old Ronald Madison on the Gentilly side of the Danziger Bridge. Madison, along with his brother Lance, had run across the bridge in what Lance Madison has said was an attempt to flee gunfire at the foot of the bridge.
All of the officers, along with retired Sgt. Arthur Kaufman, are also accused of participating a cover-up of the shootings.
Hills is one of five former New Orleans police officers who pleaded guilty in connection with the case, admitting to the cover-up. As part of his plea deal with federal prosecutors, Hills cannot be charged in state court for shooting at the teenage boy.
Hills was one of a collection of officers who jumped into the back of a Budget rental truck after 7th District officers received a radio report of other police officers needing assistance at the Danziger Bridge.
As the truck arrived at the bridge, while the vehicle was still moving, Hills said he could hear gunshots. They seemed to be coming from outside the passenger side of the truck and sounded like a “high-caliber shot,” he said.
Hills fired at Leonard Bartholomew IV from inside the truck. He said he didn’t get out of the truck until after all of the gunfire died down.
When he joined the other officers, who were standing by the front of the truck, Hills peered over the side of a concrete barrier lining the Danziger Bridge. He saw five people lying on the ground, each bleeding profusely.
On the stand, Hills recalled asking another officer, “Where are the weapons?”
Sgt. Kenneth Bowen, one of the defendants in the case, responded to the question, saying that he kicked the guns off the bridge.
“Did you believe him?” Carter asked. “No,” Hills said, adding that he didn’t see any officers canvassing for these weapons.
Despite the fact that he had stayed on the back of the truck, and therefore did not have much first-hand knowledge of the shooting, Hills ended up writing a brief report when police booked Lance Madison, accusing him of attempted murder of police officers on the bridge. Prosecutors have said this arrest was unjustified, as officers that day knew that Madison had not fired a weapon at police.
Hills said Kaufman dictated to him the contents of Madison’s booking “gist,” the brief document that police file to provide the probable cause for an arrest.
“It was very confusing as to why Lance Madison was being booked when the supposed perpetrators were on the bridge, which was at least five of them,” Hills said. “Those were the people to my understanding who were armed and shooting at the police.”
Defense attorneys hammered Hills about an FBI report that implies he felt pressured to expand on his recounting of the incident to bolster the government’s case. Hills admitted he spoke to another officer who has pleaded guilty, Robert Barrios, about talking to the prosecutors. Barrios said he had felt pressured by prosecutors, he said.
However, Hills characterized the problem as a “misunderstanding.” He said prosecutors called him in, telling him to tell the truth.
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has signaled to White House officials that he’s considering leaving the administration after President Barack Obama reaches an agreement with Congress to raise the federal debt limit, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Geithner said speculation about his departure was being driven by his decision to commute to New York so his son can finish his final year of high school there.
“I live for this work,” he said at the Clinton Global Initiative in Chicago. “It’s the only thing I’ve ever done. I believe in it. We have a lot of challenges as a country. I’m going to be doing it for the foreseeable future.”
Geithner hasn’t made a final decision and won’t do so until the debt-ceiling issue has been resolved, according to one of the people. All spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about private discussions.
The Treasury secretary has said the U.S. risks defaulting on its obligations if Congress doesn’t raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by Aug. 2. The administration and Republicans in Congress are at an impasse in negotiations to raise the limit, which is tied to efforts to cut the nation’s long-term deficit.
Moody’s Investors Service said on June 2 that it expects to place the U.S. government’s Aaa credit rating under review for a possible downgrade if there’s no progress on the debt limit by mid-July. Fitch Ratings said June 21 it would place the U.S. on a negative rating watch if no action is taken by Aug. 2.
via Geithner to Consider Leaving After Debt Debate – Bloomberg.
Four arrest warrants have been issued by the UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 murder of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the court said.
Hariri’s son, Saad, welcomed the indictments and described them as a “historic moment” for Lebanon.
Local reports say the warrants name senior members of the Shia militant and political group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has repeatedly denounced the tribunal and vowed to retaliate.
Divisions over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), based in The Hague, have thrown the country into political turmoil and prompted fears of sectarian unrest.
via BBC News – Hariri murder: UN tribunal issues arrest warrants.
Lesbian South Africans are living in fear as rape and murder become a daily threat in the townships they call home.
Noxolo Nkosana, 23, is the latest victim of a series of violent attacks against lesbians.
She was stabbed a stone’s throw from her home in Crossroads township, Cape Town, as she returned from work one evening with her girlfriend.
The two men – one of whom lives in her community – started yelling insults.
“They were walking behind us. They just started swearing at me screaming: ‘Hey you lesbian, you tomboy, we’ll show you,’” Ms Nkosana tells the BBC.
Before she knew it a sharp knife had entered her back – two fast jabs, then she was on the ground. Half conscious, she felt the knife sink into her skin twice more.
“I was sure that they were going to kill me,” she says.
Dying in silence
Many lesbians have died in such attacks – 31 in the last 10 years, it is reported.
In April, Noxolo Nogwaza was raped by eight men and murdered in KwaThema township near Johannesburg.
The 24-year-old’s face and head were disfigured by stoning, and she was stabbed several times with broken glass.
The attack on her is thought to have begun as a case of what is known as “corrective rape”, in which men rape lesbians in what they see as an attempt to “correct” their sexual orientation.
The practice appears to be on the increase in South Africa.
More than 10 lesbians per week are raped or gang-raped in Cape Town alone, according to Luleki Sizwe, a charity which helps women who have been raped in the Western Cape.
Many of the cases are not reported because the victims are afraid that the police will laugh at them, or that their attackers will come after them, says Ndumie Funda, founder of Luleki Sizwe.
“Many of them just suffer in silence,” she says.
“The cases people read about in the media are not even the tip of the iceberg. Lesbians are under attack in South Africa’s townships every day.”
Reports of police ridiculing rape victims abound in the gay community.
“Some policemen in the township mock you saying: ‘How can you be raped by a man if you are not attracted to them?’ They ask you to explain how the rape felt. It is humiliating,” says Thando Sibiya, a lesbian from Soweto.
She says she knows two people who reported rapes but then dropped their cases because of their treatment by the police.
‘Un-African’
Some trace the root of the problem to pockets of traditional African society that have not accepted homosexuality – especially among women.
“African societies are still very patriarchal. Women are taught that they should marry men, anything outside of that is viewed as wrong,” says Lesego Tlhwale from African gay rights group Behind the Mask.
“It is seen as un-African for two women to marry. Some men are threatened by this and then want to ‘fix’ it,” she adds.
She notes that the women who have been killed in South Africa so far have been described as “butch lesbians” – a slang term used to describe lesbians with a masculine or manly appearance.
“They are threatened by these kinds of lesbians in particular. They say they are stealing their girlfriends. It is a warped sense of entitlement and a need to protect their manhood.”
South Africa is the only African country to have legalised homosexual marriage, and one of only 10 in the world. The constitution specifically forbids discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
But on the ground, prejudice remains common.
On the streets of Johannesburg, it is easy to find men who support the idea of “corrective rape”.
“When someone is a lesbian, it’s like saying to us men that we are not good enough,” Thulani Bhengu, 35, tells the BBC.
Very few cases of rape against lesbians have ever resulted in convictions.
No-one knows how many of the more than 50,000 cases of rape reported in South Africa each year are committed against gay women, because the victim’s sexual orientation is not recorded.
Defiance
But after the murder of Ms Nogwaza – and a petition signed by 170,000 people around the world calling for an end to “corrective rape” – the justice department has begun to listen.
It is in the process of setting up a team to develop a strategy for tackling hate crimes against gay people, and is considering introducing heavier sentences for offences where the victim’s sexual orientation is a factor in the crime.
Ms Nkosana is afraid that she might be attacked again, but says she will not be “forced back in the closet” – made to pretend that she is a heterosexual.
“They made me a victim in my own neighbourhood but I won’t let them win,” she says. “They can’t stop me from being who I am.”
But despite her defiant attitude, Ms Tlhwale says many South African lesbians are deeply worried.
“Everyone is scared,” she says. “We have seen an increase in attacks against lesbians in recent months. Everyone we speak to is afraid that they might be next.”
via BBC News – South Africa’s lesbians fear ‘corrective rape’.
Nato forces in Afghanistan say they have killed a senior militant they suspect of involvement in the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul.
Ismail Jan died in an air strike in the eastern province of Paktia on Wednesday, the alliance said.
BBC correspondents say he is a leading commander in the Haqqani network, which is linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Nato and Afghan intelligence believe Haqqani members helped mount the hotel attack, which left 22 people dead.
The Interior Ministry says nine attackers were killed as well as 11 civilians and two police.
There has so far been no independent confirmation of Ismail Jan’s death.
via BBC News – Nato ‘kills senior Haqqani militant in Afghanistan’.
Baghdad (CNN) — Three more U.S. service members were killed in Iraq, making June the deadliest month for American troops in combat since 2008.
A total of 14 troops have been killed in combat this month, and another service member died in a noncombat-related incident. This was the highest number of combat deaths since June 2008, when 23 U.S. service members were killed.
via 3 U.S. troop deaths in Iraq lead to highest toll in 3 years – CNN.com.
Simply doesn’t go far enough to grant equal protection under the law.
More to come.
Less than a week after New York became the nation’s sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage, Rhode Island state lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of a bill that permits civil unions between gay and lesbian couples.
The measure, which passed the state Senate by a count of 21-16, is widely seen as a compromise intended to provide same-same couples with added rights and benefits, while also preventing an expanded legal definition of marriage.
The legislation, which passed overwhelmingly in the state’s lower house on May 19, affords same-sex couples a host of new state tax breaks, health-care benefits and greater ease of inheritance.
Gov. Lincoln Chafee, an independent, is expected to sign the bill into law, according to his spokesman, Michael Trainor. If signed, the law would take effect on July 1, making Rhode Island the fifth state in the country to allow civil unions between same-sex couples.
via Rhode Island legislature passes same-sex civil union bill – This Just In – CNN.com Blogs.
The Greek parliament has passed an austerity package by a slim majority to slash $40bn off the national debt.
Wednesday’s vote saw 155 members of parliament vote in favour, 138 against and 5 abstentions.
The package of taxes, spending cuts and privatisations has angered many Greeks, with thousands taking to the streets as part of a 48-hour national strike protesting against the bill.
Parliament will hold a second vote on Thursday aimed at changing a law allowing the measures to be implemented.
George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, has said the second bailout will be roughly equal a previous package last year.
Papanderou expelled a Greek ruling party deputy who voted against the austerity packagae.
The five-year austerity package will allow Greece to secure a second bailout of $17bn of emergency loan funds on top of last year’s $157bn bailout.
via Greek parliament passes austerity bill – Europe – Al Jazeera English.
The ability to create and keep effective schedules is not highly regarded. It’s not often a compliment one hears or makes about a colleague or coworker. That isn’t to say it has no value or importance. Rather, it is an ability that is associated with characteristics — like “accountable,” “responsible” and “dependable” — that will serve you well throughout your entire career.
In developing the ability of effective scheduling, the usefulness of tools like iPads is not in dispute, but neither is the inability of these tools to execute your workday. In order to align your busy schedule as it is on paper with the inexactitude of reality, adhere to the following tips for effective scheduling.
Prepare and clarify your objectives
Carefully consider your objectives for events such as meetings beforehand, noting precisely what you want to accomplish and what questions you may need to ask. Doing so will allow you to allot the right amount of time to events in your schedule. When you arrive to the meeting, clarify these objectives by making them known to others.
Always be punctual
Make it a priority to be on time and seek to develop a reputation for punctuality. Few reputations will precede you more effectively or say more good things about your professional persona than an adherence and dedication to punctuality. This doesn’t mean arriving exactly on the hour or demanding that others do so as well; rather, it’s a function of your reliability. It shows you can manage a busy schedule, that you respect the time and attention of others and that you insist upon the same.
Be realistic
Time is the ultimate factor here, so making an unrealistic assessment of even one meeting or event can throw off the remainder of your schedule and, consequently, your entire day. Furthermore, while it would be nice to dispatch with certain unpleasant appointments quickly, you can’t make out your schedule this way. In other words, learn to schedule realistically, not ideally. Make an estimate on the time, then add 10% to 20% on top of that to allow for travel, drawn-out meetings, etc.
Send confirmations
A schedule that includes meetings and appointments with other people takes a bit of control out of your hands and puts its efficiency in jeopardy. One step to take back some of that control is to send email reminders the day before or the morning of in order to confirm your meetings with all those involved. It will also help you reschedule in the event of cancellations.
What’s the one city you’d move to in an instant?
Is she the type of girl who’d want to move somewhere fast-paced or does she want peace and quiet, opting for farm life in the middle of nowhere? Her choice can reveal a lot about her likes and dislikes, but it also tells you where she’s at in this phase of her life. This first date question will allow you to find out if she would be daring enough to relocate to a new city without hesitation, or if stability is more of a priority.
What’s it like being a… (insert her profession here)
Sooner or later the conversation trickles onto the topic of jobs. People spend huge chunks of their time at work so they generally have much to say on the subject. Find out what she feels about her career. Is she only in it for the paycheck, or does she have a passion for it? This conversation doesn’t have to be boring, focusing on the office politics she has been wrestling with or all the so-called interesting stories about her bad boss. If it hits such a dead-end, the question can lead into talking about her ambitions, which is often much better ear fodder. You’ll gain some knowledge about where she’s headed in life and how she intends to get there. Lend a golden ear to show your interest and pay attention for yourself too. You have plans of your own to succeed at, so finding out hers can show just how compatible you are and if your paths are heading in similar directions.
make the right impression
You’ve kept her intrigued with your interesting first date questions and are now in a better position to decide if this first encounter could possibly lead to a romantic sequel. But talking is only half of it — also take note of her body language as this reveals unsaid bits about her personality. It’s often the inside scoop on what she’s really thinking but doesn’t realize it’s displayed for you to see.
By the end of the night, with this approach, you’ll know if you’re going to invite her out again — or if the only person you want to call is the waiter so you can settle the bill and make a speedy exit.
What You Need To Know
You can learn a lot about her based on what she’d do with $1 million.
Find out if she’s a risk taker by asking her about the scariest thing she’s done.
The reasons she stays at her job reveal a lot about her personality.
“You’re both perusing the menu when she settles on a pasta dish. Sneakily, you ask her if she’d be keen to try something different instead.”
You’ve ordered dinner and wish the waiter would bring a side order of good conversation because an awkward silence has settled over the table. You’ve already meandered through common first-date banter (Do you have siblings? Where do you like to hang out?) and now have hit a slump.
What you need is to shake the conversation up with some unique questions instead of the regular lackluster ones that get served on first dates. This way you’ll keep her intrigued while you get your hands on important information about her.
Keep the conversation light but meaningful, and let it flow in a natural way. Often, a question will branch out into others, so here are five first date questions to have up your sleeve.
Are you going to try the snails with me?
You’re both perusing the menu when she settles on a pasta dish. Sneakily, you ask her if she’d be keen to try something different instead. This is more than just wanting her to enjoy what is, in your opinion, a delicacy; you’re being introduced to her sense of openness. Is she willing to try new things or does she insist that snails look disgusting? Of course, if she has an allergy to the food you’re suggesting, that’s a totally different situation. Generally, though, asking her to try something new with you will show you how she deals with it and if she’s flexible. Not to mention that if she’s an experimental gal it could pay off at a later stage.
What would you do right now if you had a million bucks?
You can ask her about her hobbies, or you could throw her this question and see how she catches it. What she would do if she landed in big money overnight is probably something she has let her imagination toy with before (as have most of us), so it will give you a glimpse into her interests and priorities, but also spontaneity levels. The benefit of this first date question is that it comes across as fun, thus putting her at ease while giving you some insight into what she’s all about.
What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done?
Just how risky is this hot tamale? This subject not only makes for some interesting anecdotes, but it helps you gauge her adventurous side and what risk levels she is comfortable with. Look into the future: If you start dating and invite her to go bungee jumping or mountain climbing, will you be sharing that adrenaline or will she be sitting on the sidelines bored? Explore her sense of adventure and see if your fun thresholds are on the same page.
What’s the one city you’d move to in an instant?
Is she the type of girl who’d want to move somewhere fast-paced or does she want peace and quiet, opting for farm life in the middle of nowhere? Her choice can reveal a lot about her likes and dislikes, but it also tells you where she’s at in this phase of her life. This first date question will allow you to find out if she would be daring enough to relocate to a new city without hesitation, or if stability is more of a priority.
What’s it like being a… (insert her profession here)
Sooner or later the conversation trickles onto the topic of jobs. People spend huge chunks of their time at work so they generally have much to say on the subject. Find out what she feels about her career. Is she only in it for the paycheck, or does she have a passion for it? This conversation doesn’t have to be boring, focusing on the office politics she has been wrestling with or all the so-called interesting stories about her bad boss. If it hits such a dead-end, the question can lead into talking about her ambitions, which is often much better ear fodder. You’ll gain some knowledge about where she’s headed in life and how she intends to get there. Lend a golden ear to show your interest and pay attention for yourself too. You have plans of your own to succeed at, so finding out hers can show just how compatible you are and if your paths are heading in similar directions.
make the right impression
You’ve kept her intrigued with your interesting first date questions and are now in a better position to decide if this first encounter could possibly lead to a romantic sequel. But talking is only half of it — also take note of her body language as this reveals unsaid bits about her personality. It’s often the inside scoop on what she’s really thinking but doesn’t realize it’s displayed for you to see.
By the end of the night, with this approach, you’ll know if you’re going to invite her out again — or if the only person you want to call is the waiter so you can settle the bill and make a speedy exit.
