Opening Statements Begin For Danziger Trial

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – The federal judge presiding at the civil rights case has ruled there will be no general testimony about the desperate conditions prevailing after the 2005 storm. But defense attorneys will likely ask jurors to factor in the stress officers were under as flooding covered much of the city. The trial now getting under way involves unarmed civilians trying to cross the Danziger Bridge. Two were killed and four hurt. An earlier trial involving police operating in the chaos after the storm resulted in three convictions over a man who was shot and his body burned in an abandoned car. Officers in the current case maintain they were responding to shots fired at police.
For WWNO, I'm Eileen Fleming.