Judge denies new trial for convicted Miami officers who Planted Weapons

A judge has denied a new trial for five Miami officers convicted in plots to cover up the planting of guns on unarmed suspects shot by police. The 28-page order issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Alan Gold opens the door to an appeal by four officers sentenced to prison following a 2003 trial and the sentencing of three officers convicted in an April retrial. Two other turncoat officers are awaiting sentencing on their guilty pleas. The judge said new eyewitness evidence offered by the defense did not "undermine my confidence in the verdict" since nobody saw a gun right after the wounding of a homeless man and an officer's fingerprints were on the planted gun. "We intend to raise every single one of these issues before the 11th Circuit and hopefully be back for a new trial in a year," Richard Sharpstein, attorney for two of the officers, said Wednesday. The convictions came in the biggest scandal to taint the Miami department in a generation. Varying groups of officers were accused of covering up guns planted after four shootings that left three men dead and one wounded from November 1995 to June 1997. Four officers were acquitted. Community outrage over the shootings sparked the hiring of a new police chief, the creation of a civilian police review board with subpoena powers and police shooting policy changes that resulted in a steep drop in officer-involved shootings. [more ]