Ex-cop jailed in Abner Louima assault denied compassionate release
Disgraced former NYPD cop Justin Volpe, jailed in the brutal 1997 stationhouse broomstick assault on Haitian immigrant Abner Louima, was denied a plea for compassionate release from prison Monday.
Volpe, 48, was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison in 1999 for the shocking attack inside the 70th Precinct stationhouse in Brooklyn.
Volpe was convicted of using a broomstick to sodomize Louima, perforating his rectum and bladder, following Louima’s arrest when cops broke up a rowdy party on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn on Aug. 9, 1997.
In a hand-written plea for release, Volpe in December said he had tested positive for COVID-19 while behind bars, and he wanted to be with his ailing mother.
“I do not seek to evade just punishment for my crime,” he wrote. “I have served the overwhelming majority of my sentence. After 21 plus years in prison, it is my family who is being punsihed more.”
“I respectfully ask for your consideration to have the ability to help my dear 76-year-old mother (Grace) who is a widow and needs physical and emotional help, as well as my loyal wife (Caroline) who meets all the demands of a household all on her own during these trying and uncertain times,” Volpe wrote.
But federal prosecutors responded in a Feb. 1 reply that Volpe should stay behind bars, calling his actions “one of the most heinous crimes in New York City’s history.”
On Monday, Judge Frederic Block agreed.
“Defendant Justin Volpe’s motion for compassionate release is denied,” the said in a ruling online. “He does not present any extraordinary and compelling reasons… based on the possibility of contracting COVID-19.”
“In any event, reconsideration of the factors does not warrant a reduction of his sentence given the gave nature and circumstances of his crime,” the judge wrote.
This post first appeared on Nypost.com
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