3 Wis. ex-officers sentenced in beating

3 Wis. ex-officers sentenced in beating
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER, Associated Press Writer

MILWAUKEE - Three white former police officers were sentenced to long prison terms Thursday for the off-duty beating of a biracial man, an attack that outraged the city and sent protesters into the streets. A judge sentenced Jon Bartlett to 17 years and four months. Daniel Masarik was sentenced to 15 years and eight months, and Andrew Spengler received the same sentence...

Bartlett, 36, Masarik, 27, and Spengler, 28, were convicted for taking part in the beating of Frank Jude Jr. outside a housewarming party in October 2004. A federal jury determined in July that the three violated Jude's civil rights and conspired to assault him while acting as officers. Officer Ryan Packard was acquitted of federal charges. The trial is the second round in a case that has haunted Milwaukee. The three men were acquitted of most state charges by an all-white jury in April 2006, angering the community. Federal authorities filed the civil rights charges six months later...

Jude, 29, said he had been at a party on Oct. 24, 2004, when a group of white men who identified themselves as off-duty officers kicked and punched him, put a knife to his throat and jammed a pen in his ears as he begged for mercy. Jude said he heard Spengler call him a racial slur. "They came close to killing Mr. Jude," said his attorney, Jonathan Safran. "They caused him serious permanent physical injuries and mental injuries he and his family will have to deal with the rest of their lives."

Jude said the confrontation began as he and a friend were leaving the party, when a group of men surrounded their truck and dragged him out, accusing him of taking Spengler's badge. No badge was ever found. The community has cried injustice since the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a front-page photo in February 2005 showing Jude's swollen, misshapen face just after the beating...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071130/ap_on_re_us/police_beating

for using their badges as permission to beat people. But it's unlikely to happen. Accountability seems to be the rare exception.
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People will be shaking in their boots because of this sentence.