NEW ORLEANS – Testimony has concluded in the trial of five current or former New Orleans police officers charged in shootings on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina.
U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt said Friday that closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday, and he expects deliberations to begin the next day.
Police allegedly shot six unarmed people, killing two, on the Danziger Bridge less than a week after the storm in 2005.
Prosecutors say officers engaged in a cover-up to make the shootings appear justified. Defense attorneys say police were shot at before returning fire.
The last day of testimony included prosecutors using a woman's testimony to bolster their claim that police fabricated a witness to the deadly encounter. The woman says she wasn't in New Orleans when the shootings happened, even though police listed a witness with the same name in their report.
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