Cincinnati has learned it's nearly impossible to convict cops accused of crimes.

        Last week, our nation learned a corollary to that: Even if you convict a cop, don't expect it to stick.

        A three-judge panel in appeals court last week set free three of the four New York police officers identified as attackers and, later liars, in the sexual torture of Abner Louima.

        You remember Mr. Louima, the Haitian immigrant who in 1997 was mistakenly arrested and beaten by police and then was sodomized with a broomstick in the basement of a Brooklyn precinct house.

        One of the four officers accused, Justin Volpe, pleaded guilty during his trial and is serving 30 years in prison for civil-rights violations.

        Mr. Louima spent two months in the hospital with a ruptured colon and bladder. He received an $8.7 million out-of-court settlement from the city of New York and the police union.

        The other three accused officers were each convicted on conspiracy charges, and one, Charles Schwarz, was convicted of holding Mr. Louima down during the sexual assault.

        That bit of justice has been undone.

        The appellate judges strained at gnats while swallowing whole elephants there.

        They said former officer Schwarz should get a new trial on the assault charge, mainly because his attorney had a conflict of interest that affected his defense.

        No kidding, there was a conflict. The attorney's law firm was on retainer with the police union, and so the lawyer could not act independently to defend his client. The conflict was so obvious, and so well-foreseen, that before the officers' trial, the prosecutor asked a judge to declare it a conflict and to remove the attorney.

        Mr. Schwarz resisted, and the judge didn't force the issue. Now the appeals panel says Mr. Schwarz didn't get a fair trial.
       

A conspiracy of lies

        The appeals court also tossed the convictions of Mr. Schwarz and fellow officers Thomas Wiese and Thomas Bruder, accused of conspiring to lie to a grand jury.

        Sure, the appeals judges acknowledged, the men repeatedly lied to investigators and in sworn statements. The trio met or contacted each other at least 250 times during the investigation, plenty of time to share information and get their stories straight.

        And whenever facts were leaked about the case, they changed their stories to fit.

        But, the panel said, that's not important. What's important is that the prosecution never proved that the men's conspiracy of lies was aimed at the grand jury.

        So ex-officer Schwarz gets released from federal custody Thursday . Federal prosecutors say they'll try again to convict him, but they have their doubts.

        After this judicial panel's ruling — and given what Cincinnati has learned in its own police cases — I understand that reluctance.

        In Cincinnati, a judge acquitted Officer Stephen Roach in the shooting death of Timothy Thomas, an unarmed black man who ran from police, despite contradictory statements by Officer Roach.

        In separate trials, a judge and jury declined to convict Officers Robert “Blaine” Jorg and Patrick Caton for the asphyxiation death of Roger Owensby Jr., despite bloody body fluids on Officer Jorg's sleeve, as well as adverse testimony by police, coroner's officials and other witnesses.

        Despite all that, we optimists continue to strain against the wind. We urge prosecutors in the Louima case to keep fighting for justice.

        Denise Smith Amos can be reached at 768-8395. Fax 768-8340 or e-mail damos@ enquirer.com
       

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