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NEW YORK

30-year sentence for cop who tortured Louima

By G. Dunkel

New York

Abner Louima did not want to speak at the Dec. 13 sentencing of Justin Volpe to 30 years in prison. Volpe is the cop who pleaded guilty to plunging a broken broom handle into Louima's rectum.

But Louima said that the lies Volpe told in his sentencing statement moved him to speak.

Louima said that "defendant Volpe ... still makes the ridiculous claim in his pre-sentence report that I repeatedly punched him in the street outside the nightclub. That never happened."

Volpe tried to present himself as a reformed, compassionate individual who "forgave" Louima for what he did on the street. Louima's response was, "I did absolutely nothing in the street for which I should be forgiven."

Louima ended his statement with the following point: "Finally, of all the slanderous statements, the most offensive is defendant Volpe's most recent and diabolical lie. He says that in the bathroom, when my hands were cuffed behind my back, when my pants were down at my ankles, while bloodied from already being beaten, while fearing that I was about to die, that I taunted him with curses.

"By this despicable falsehood, defendant Volpe would have you believe that I provoked him into torturing me with that stick."

Volpe faced a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Judge Eugene Nickerson sentenced him instead to 30 years, with a chance for five years off for good behavior. While this is not light, many feel it is less than Volpe deserves for torturing Louima.

The judge obviously bought at least a part of Volpe's story. He could have also added some extra time for the false arrest and beating of Patrick Antoine, another Haitian immigrant Volpe arrested and beat that night.

Antoine was on his way to work at an airport where he prepares food. He was walking to the bus stop when Volpe nabbed him.

Antoine took a day off work to go to the sentencing and ask the judge to mention his case when Volpe was sentenced. Nickerson failed to bring in the incident, although it has direct relevance to Volpe's state of mind and intentions the night he tortured Louima so violently.

The tremendous, sustained mass pressure that developed over the Louima case forced the courts to deliver a portion of justice to Justin Volpe. But thousands of cases of police brutality and violence go unnoticed and unpunished every year in New York. The blue wall of silence took a chip but did not crack.

Louima still has pain and suffering from the tortures he suffered. He is still under medical and psychiatric care.

Outside the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, Louima's supporters chanted, "No justice, no peace!"

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who was present in the courtroom, said: "It's our opinion that Mr. Volpe should have gotten life. Today, a deposit was made for justice, but we have not been paid in full."

Copyright © 1999 workers.org