Ex-cop to be sentenced for Katrina cover-up

[October 05, 2011]  NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A federal judge is prepared to sentence one of five former police officers who pleaded guilty to helping cover up deadly shootings on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina.

Federal prosecutors are urging U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman to be lenient when he sentences Ignatius Hills on Wednesday for participating in a cover-up of the Danziger Bridge shootings, which killed two people and wounded four others less than a week after the 2005 storm.

Prosecutors recommend a four-year prison sentence for Hills. Sentencing guidelines call for a term of up to seven years and three months.

Also Wednesday, a different judge is scheduled to hear prosecutors' request to reduce an eight-year prison sentence for Michael Hunter, a former officer who also pleaded guilty in the cover-up.

[Associated Press]

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