[BRC-NEWS] Officer Volpe Admits He Tortured Abner Louima Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - Michael Novick [BRC-NEWS] Officer Volpe Admits He Tortured Abner Louima The New York Times May 26, 1999 Officer, Hoping to Avoid Life Sentence, Admits He Tortured Haitian Immigrant By DAVID BARSTOW In a faltering, hesitant voice, Justin A. Volpe admitted Tuesday that he rammed a stick into Abner Louima's rectum and then thrust it in his face, an act, the police officer acknowledged, intended to humiliate and intimidate the handcuffed Haitian immigrant. "If you tell anybody about this, I'll find you and kill you," Volpe said he told Louima moments after the Aug. 9, 1997, assault in the restroom of the 70th Precinct station house in Brooklyn. By admitting guilt, Volpe hoped to be spared a life sentence for the assault that cast a shadow on the entire New York Police Department. But while he offered chilling details about acts he has long denied, Volpe did not implicate any other officers by name, even though four others are still on trial in the case. As he confessed to six Federal crimes, Volpe at times struggled for words when pressed to explain the forces that compelled him to torture Louima. "When you put the stick up towards his face, having shoved it into his rectum, was a part of your effort to humiliate him?" Judge Eugene H. Nickerson of Federal District Court asked at one point, his tone quietly insistent. Volpe paused, unsure of himself. "I was in shock at the time, Your Honor," he said. The judge repeated the question. "I couldn't believe what happened," Volpe said, again seeming to fumble. And then: "I was mad." Still unsatisfied, Judge Nickerson tried once more. "You intended to humiliate him?" "Yes," Volpe finally said, averting his eyes. Volpe, 27, wept only once, at the end of the 45-minute hearing, when he said to Judge Nickerson, "Your Honor, if I could just let the record reflect I'm sorry for hurting my family." The judge cut him off. "You'll get a chance to do that when you come to sentence," he said. Volpe wiped the tears from his eyes, and then turned and looked into the audience for his most outspoken defender, his father, Robert Volpe, a retired police detective once renowned for solving art thefts. The son managed a weak smile as security officers escorted him from the courtroom and took him into custody. "There are all different kinds of hell," Robert Volpe said later. "It's not easy seeing your son taken away." Volpe did not apologize to Louima, but his lawyer, Marvyn M. Kornberg, said he was clearly remorseful. "When you plead guilty, I think that's a sufficient apology," Kornberg said. "The man's facing life." Even by throwing himself on the mercy of the court, Volpe at a minimum faces 30 years in a Federal prison, his lawyers said, citing their analysis of the sentencing guidelines that will be used by Judge Nickerson. He could also be fined up to $1.5 million for violating Louima's civil rights. No sentencing date was set Tuesday. Kornberg said that the defense would try to sway the judge toward leniency by presenting a report from a psychologist that could trace such things as Volpe's upbringing and state of mind at the time of the attack. "We intend to present a psychological profile of Justin Volpe," he said. It is not uncommon for defense lawyers to offer such profiles at sentencings. The plea was seized on by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani as evidence that the Police Department had turned a corner in its battle with corruption and brutality. "It destroys the myth of the blue wall of silence," the Mayor said, alluding to the testimony of Volpe's fellow officers, who described how Volpe had boasted of the attack after carrying it out. With his guilty plea, Volpe was automatically dismissed from the police force. Since the attack, he had been on modified duty, meaning he carried neither badge nor gun, but continued to be paid. Louima was not in court to hear Volpe's guilty plea, but his cousin, Samuel Nicolas, spoke for the family Tuesday, telling reporters outside the courtroom in Brooklyn, "We just like to thank God for keeping Abner alive." Nicolas also thanked Federal prosecutors, asked for healing, and said the Louima family "looks forward for the rest of justice to be done." Today, three other officers and a sergeant also charged in the case will return to court as their trial continues. Their lawyers were conferring with Judge Nickerson Tuesday to decide how best to explain to jurors Volpe's sudden exit without tainting their impression of the evidence against the remaining defendants. Prosecutors declined to discuss the plea in detail. "We're obviously very pleased with today's development," said the United States Attorney, Zachary W. Carter. The courtroom was so crowded for Volpe's plea that when Robert Volpe entered, one of the few remaining seats was a few feet from Carter. The elder Volpe squeezed in; Carter moved across the aisle to another spot. Twenty minutes before the appointed hour, Justin Volpe slipped into the courtroom through a side door. Accompanied by his lawyers and several police officers, he appeared relaxed and polished, his hair immaculately slicked back. He had spent the night at his parents' home in Staten Island, eating with his mother and father and visiting with his girlfriend as a half-dozen watchful law enforcement officials camped outside with a couple of hecklers. In court, he chatted with his lawyers and his private investigator, as if he were oblivious to his surroundings. But minutes before Judge Nickerson walked in, Volpe searched the court for his father, who, except for an uncle, was the only Volpe relative to attend the hearing. When their eyes met, Robert Volpe gave him a hang-tough sort of smile, and then a clerk called out, "United States of America versus Justin Volpe." Volpe's poise began to fade. Flanked by his lawyers, he faced Judge Nickerson, who peered back over half-glasses and showed none of his usual humor. Judge Nickerson asked him if he understood what he was about to do, and Volpe said he did. His voice was low and throaty, full of street, like a young Marlon Brando doing a "Godfather" routine. When the moment of confession arrived, Volpe reached into his jacket and pulled out a one-page statement. He took several deep breaths, and rocked back and forth, and read in a monotone until he got to the phrase, "I sodomized . . ." Then he paused. Then he took another breath. Then he sniffled and finished the sentence: ". . . Louima by placing a stick in his rectum." In the audience, Robert Volpe's eyes were red, and he kept pulling at his mustache and stroking his chin and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "That's it, that's your statement?" Judge Nickerson asked when Volpe stopped reading. "Yes, Your Honor, if you have any questions," he replied. Judge Nickerson had many questions. Were Louima's hands in shackles when he was assaulted in a police car? Yes. Did he ever threaten to kill Louima's family? No. Was Louima handcuffed when Volpe shoved the stick up his rectum? Yes. "Did you put it to his mouth, close to his mouth?" the judge asked. "I put it in front of his mouth, yes," Volpe replied. The Rev. Al Sharpton, sitting with Louima's mother near the back of the courtroom, had a one-word description for Volpe's account: "Chilling." Later, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Sharpton lambasted Volpe's lawyer, Kornberg, for suggesting during his opening statement that Louima's severe internal injuries could have been caused by consensual gay sex. Kornberg had told the jurors, "You will hear from a forensic pathologist and you will hear from other medical doctors that the injuries sustained by Louima are not, I repeat not, consistent with a nonconsensual insertion of an object into his rectum," and said Louima's feces found in the station restroom "contain the DNA of another male." Kornberg never asked Louima about that suggestion during his testimony for the prosecution. And since Volpe pleaded guilty before his lawyers began their defense, there was no testimony to support the contention. Given Volpe's confession, such a defense theory was tantamount to "a second rape," Sharpton said at a news conference outside court. "This vindicates Abner's character. It vindicates those of us who stood for Abner." A reporter called out one last question to Sharpton: "Is it Giuliani time?" he asked, making a reference to Louima's famous falsehood about what the police officers told him during the assault. "It's justice time," Sharpton shouted, a rallying cry that was embraced by a raucous crowd of protesters who hooted and booed when Kornberg stepped to the microphones, where he has waged a daily defense for his client. Reporters repeatedly asked Kornberg if he owed Louima an apology for insinuating that his injuries came from gay sex. Not at all, Kornberg replied, pointing out that he never directly said Louima was gay. Still, Kornberg, who prides himself as New York's premier lawyer for police officers in trouble, was clearly on the defensive about his defense of Volpe. He acknowledged that he had been caught off guard by some of the police officers who testified against Volpe and that "there came a point in time when the evidence became overwhelming." And he distanced himself from Volpe's aboutface when he said, "I don't make decisions for clients to plead guilty." 4 STILL ON TRIAL Three officers and a sergeant remain on trial in United States District Court in Brooklyn in the Abner Louima case. Their names, and the charges against them, are: SGT. MICHAEL BELLOMO Conspiracy, making false statements, being an accessory after the fact and depriving a person of his civil rights. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. OFFICER THOMAS BRUDER Conspiracy and depriving a person of his civil rights. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. OFFICER CHARLES SCHWARZ Conspiracy and three counts of depriving a person of his civil rights. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison. OFFICER THOMAS WIESE Conspiracy and two counts of depriving a person of his civil rights. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. (c) Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company [Messages on BRC-NEWS may be forwarded and cross-posted, as long as proper attribution is given to the author and originating publication (including the email address and any copyright notices), and the wording is not altered in any way, other than for formatting. As a courtesy, when you cross-post or forward, we'd appreciate it if you mention that you received the info via the BRC-NEWS list. 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