1 cop guilty, 1 acquitted of lying about shooting

NEW ORLEANS – A jury has convicted one New Orleans police officer of lying about circumstances of a fatal shooting outside the city's convention center after Hurricane Katrina.

Federal jurors on Friday convicted officer Ronald Mitchell on one count of obstruction of justice and one count of perjury for lying about getting out of his patrol car after the September 2005 shooting and checking the pulse of 45-year-old Danny Brumfield.

Mitchell and Officer Ray Jones were patrolling near the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, where thousands of residents were stranded for days after the 2005 storm.

Mitchell shot and killed Brumfield with a single shotgun blast on Sept. 3, 2005. He was acquitted of two counts of lying about the shooting itself. Jones was also acquitted.