Mistrial Rejected in Louima Case

The judge in the city’s police torture case rejected motions for a mistrial and told the jury that the trial will go on without the officer who pleaded guilty the day before. U.S. District Judge Eugene Nickerson told jurors that Justin Volpe’s plea of guilty to violating the civil rights of a Haitian immigrant shouldn’t be used as evidence against the remaining four officers charged. Two defense attorneys had asked Nickerson to declare a mistrial, arguing that the jury would assume the worst of the remaining defendants. After four fellow officers testified against him, Volpe admitted on Tuesday that he had sodomized Abner Louima with a broomstick.