Deadline Set For Reply To Cop’s Bid For New Trial

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Prosecutors have 10 days to respond to a New Orleans police officer's claim that new evidence merits overturning his convictions for writing a false report about the deadly police shooting of a man after Hurricane Katrina.

A court filing Monday by Lt. Travis McCabe asks U.S. District Judge Lance Africk to throw out his convictions or order a new trial. On Tuesday, Africk gave prosecutors until Feb. 18 to respond.

McCabe was convicted in December of falsifying a report to make it appear that a former officer, David Warren, was justified in shooting 31-year-old Henry Glover in September 2005. Sgt. Purnella Simmons, a government witness, testified that fabricated material was added to her original report without her knowledge.

But McCabe's lawyers say they have found a copy Simmons gave Warren in December 2005 that is "identical in substance" to the version McCabe was convicted of falsifying.