Fairfax County Police Watch: Officer convicted in Danziger Bridge shootings asks to be released from prison after getting new trial

Former New Orleans police sergeant Arthur Kaufman, who won a new trial this week after being convicted in 2011 for his role in helping cover up the Danziger Bridge shooting, is seeking a chance to get out of prison on bond. (Ted Jackson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archive)

In the wake of a ruling granting a new trial for five former police officers convicted for their roles in the post-Katrina Danziger Bridge shooting, the cop serving a six-year prison term for aiding in the cover-up is asking to be released from prison on bond.

Attorneys for former police Sgt. Arthur Kaufman, 57, made their motion for bond Thursday morning. Kaufman is currently in a Virginia prison with a release date of 2017.

Stephen London, an attorney for Kaufman, asked for a $100,000 personal surety bond, which was the bond granted for Kaufman leading up to the 2011 trial. Of the five officers who stood trial in 2011, Kaufman was the only one allowed to remain free on bond in the lead up to trial.

This week's blockbuster ruling by U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt granting a new trial blasted federal prosecutors for "grotesque" misconduct based on their anonymous posting of inflammatory comments about the Danziger case and other federal matters on NOLA.com. The prosecutors outed as NOLA.com commenters were not the prosecutors who tried the Danziger case. But one -- Jan Mann -- was a high-ranking supervisor, and another was a Justice Department lawyer with a role in the Danziger case.

An attorney for ex-offier Anthony Villavaso, who was sentenced to 38 years in prison for his role in the Danziger shooting, earlier this week said he also intends to seek release for his client. By Thursday morning he had not filed a request.

"We intend to seek our clients release on bond and feel that he is an excellent candidate for release," Roger Kitchens had said immediately after Engelhardt's ruling. The other ex-cops who were granted a new trial are Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius and Robert Faulcon.

A new trial date has not been set, but the judge indicated he wanted to move swiftly. It's unclear if the Justice Department plans to challenge the ruling.

Morrogh finds cop he doesn’t love. In other news, hell freezes.

Probe of fatal police shooting goes to federal authorities

By Justin Jouvenal/Post

The Fairfax County prosecutor has turned over the investigation of a fatal police shooting of an unarmed Springfield man to federal authorities, citing complications with the five-month-old case.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia has agreed to continue the probe into the death of 46-year-old John Geer, who was shot during a standoff with Fairfax County police in August. No one has been charged in the incident.

“There is a conflict of interest that has arisen in the case,” Morrogh said Thursday. “And there is a second potential conflict of interest that has arisen out of my office. . . . This is the prudent thing to do.”

Morrogh declined to describe the nature of the conflicts because the investigation is ongoing. The U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday that it could not confirm or deny any investigation or comment on pending investigations.

Police went to Geer’s Pebble Brook Court home on Aug. 29 because of a report of a domestic disturbance. Geer’s father, Don Geer, said his son was upset because his girlfriend, the mother of his two children, had decided to leave him.

John Geer had thrown his girlfriend’s belongings in the front yard. She called police and told them that Geer had a firearm. Police said they tried for about 50 minutes to persuade Geer to leave the home, but he refused.

Don Geer said he watched the climax of the encounter. He said that he could not hear what officers were saying to his son but that he saw him standing with empty hands resting on top of a screen door at the home’s entrance.

At some point, John Geer began to slowly lower his hands and an officer opened fire, hitting Geer in the chest, his father said. Geer retreated inside and closed the door. A SWAT team eventually entered the home and found Geer dead.

Don Geer said detectives later told him that his son did not have a gun on him at the time of the shooting but that there was a holstered handgun a couple of steps from the front door.

Don Geer said it appeared to him that the shooting was unjustified, but he was unsure what to make of the probe being turned over to federal authorities.

“I don’t know whether that’s good or bad — if I had a better idea of why they are doing it, I could form an opinion,” he said.

Geer and friends of his son have been critical of how long the investigation has taken, but Morrogh said police and prosecutors were working to explore all the evidence. He did not think federal prosecutors would have to start from scratch.

“No one wants these things to linger on,” Morrogh said.

Our ink will outlast his career

Under the reign of former Chief of Police Rhorer the Fairfax County Police arrested a man for not wearing clothes in his house while he made coffee, set up an eye doctor on a gambling charge and then used the SWAT team to kill him. An investigation into the charge that the Doctor’s primary clients were cops has never been investigated. The police gunned down an emotionally unstable man because cop who shot him wrongly assumed the man was trying to escape. He wasn’t. The cops also shot dead four other citizens under highly questionable circumstances. The department under Rhorer was sued multiple times by citizens. So did they fire Rhorer? Naw they promoted him. According to news reports Rhorer draws a salary of $191,168 per year as Deputy Fairfax County Executive as well as a concurrent pension from the Fairfax County police of $173000 per year.

Occupation by force

According to the most recent U.S. Census figures, nearly one in five Fairfax residents (17.5 percent) is of Asian descent while Hispanics make up nearly 16 percent of Fairfax’s overall population. Those numbers drop considerably when applied to the Fairfax County Police Department, where only 4.3 percent of officers are Asian and 4.1 percent Hispanic. White officers make up 84 percent of Fairfax County’s 1,360-member police department, significantly higher than the county’s general population (54 percent white). Almost 90% of the force lives outside the county.