Ex-New Orleans Cop Gets Max for Katrina Bridge Shooting

(Dec. 2) -- The sister of an unarmed man killed by New Orleans police officers in the notorious post-Katrina Danziger Bridge shootings praised the tough sentence given to one of the officers. Justice, she said, was the only way she and her family could move on with their lives.

Former New Orleans police officer Michael Hunter was sentenced Wednesday in a Louisiana courtroom to the maximum eight years in prison for his role in covering up the 2005 shootings. Ronald Madison, an unarmed mentally disabled man, and a teenager were killed.

"For our family, there is no way to undo what has happened," Lorna Madison Humphrey said after the sentencing, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "The only way we can move forward is to continue to ask for justice to prevail. This is all we have ever asked for."

On Sept. 4, 2005, prosecutors say police shot and killed 17-year-old James Brissette and 40-year-old Madison and wounded four others, all of whom were unarmed, on the Danziger Bridge. In a cover-up, officers initially said they were under fire when they shot at civilians.

But later, Hunter, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstructing justice in April, testified that the men were unarmed. He also said Madison was running away from the police and did not pose a threat when an officer shot him in the back, according to CNN. Hunter also testified that police falsely arrested Madison's brother, Lance Madison, who was released without being charged.

Six other indicted officers are scheduled to go on trial in June. Hunter's prison sentence may be shortened if he testifies against the other officers, which he is expected to do.

Brissette's mother, Sherrel Johnson, said the police betrayed their oath to protect and serve that day. "We don't need all that corruption in a police department who took an oath to protect and serve. That wasn't protecting, and God knows they wasn't serving, and what they were serving wasn't nothing nice," she told Fox8live in New Orleans.

Rommel Madison, the brother of Lance and Ronald, said the sentence was long overdue. "We're just happy to see justice to come through for us," he said.

Before he was sentenced Wednesday, Hunter apologized to the families. He said he was sorry for "not having the courage to do the right thing from the beginning."

But he got little sympathy from U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Vance. She said she was particularly disturbed by Hunter's defense that although he shot at unarmed civilians, he didn't hit any of them. She sentenced Hunter to the longest prison term available.

"Your decency is slow in coming," the judge said, "and it came with strings attached. It is hard to find you very sympathetic."