Hold on, its not over yet. In October 2008 Jim Letten and the Feds decide to take a crack at the nut. Maybe there was a civil rights violation. Then he goes all quiet while the investigation is in progress.

In August 2009 FBI agents raided NO Police headquarters in connection with the infamous Danziger Bridge shooting, but that case may just be the beginning of bigger investigation. A local TV station was told this type of investigation had been years in the making and the probe into the police department is broader than the events that happened on the Danziger Bridge. Files and computer hard drives are what sources said federal investigators were after.

In April 2010 the case cracks wide open. Michael Hunter pleads guilty to federal charges of obstruction of justice and failing to report a felony and makes a statement purporting to be the truth about what happened on September 4, 2005 on the Danziger Bridge. A twelve page "factual basis" lays it out in graphic detail. An excerpt follows:

The Shootings and the Start of the Conspiracy
In 2005, defendant HUNTER was an officer assigned to NOPD’s Seventh District.
On September 4, 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the defendant and his fellow
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Seventh District officers were working out of a temporary station at the Crystal Palace on
Chef Menteur Highway. In response to a radio call that officers on the I-10 high-rise bridge
had taken fire, defendant HUNTER and other NOPD officers loaded into a large Budget
rental truck, which HUNTER then drove from the Crystal Palace to the Danziger Bridge.
En route to the Danziger Bridge, Sergeant A asked to borrow an assault rifle
defendant HUNTER had placed in the cab of the Budget truck. HUNTER hesitated
initially, but then relented and agreed to let Sergeant A use the assault rifle.
When defendant HUNTER first observed the Danziger Bridge on September 4, 2005,
he saw in the distance a handful of people casually walking on the roadway on the bridge.
HUNTER realized that the people on the bridge would not know that the Budget truck held
police officers who were responding to a call for assistance, so he used his left hand to fire
warning shots, with his NOPD-issued handgun, out the window of the truck.
As defendant HUNTER fired these warning shots, the people on the bridge scattered
and ran toward a concrete barrier separating the roadway from a pedestrian walkway. The
civilians, who did not appear to have any weapons, began to climb or jump over the barrier.
Defendant HUNTER stopped the Budget truck a short distance from where he had
seen people climb over the concrete barrier. As the truck rolled to a stop, Sergeant A fired
an assault rifle down toward the civilians on the walkway. At one point before HUNTER
got out of the truck, he saw an older black male raise his head above the barrier, and he saw
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Sergeant A fire at the black male. The black male did not appear to have a weapon and did
not threaten the officers.
In addition to the people who jumped over the concrete barrier, defendant HUNTER
saw civilians running westward, toward the top of the bridge. HUNTER got out on the
driver’s side, ran to the front of the truck, and fired his handgun in the direction of the people
running away up the bridge. Sergeant B, who had also run to the front of the truck, stood
nearby, firing an M4-type assault rifle at the same civilians. HUNTER did not see any
weapons on these civilians, and did not see them stop or turn around. They did not appear
to be a threat to the officers as they ran up the bridge. HUNTER fired his handgun
numerous times in the direction of these fleeing civilians, but did not believe that he struck
them.
Defendant HUNTER then walked to the passenger side of the truck, where Sergeant
A and other officers were lined up in a position to fire at or behind the concrete barrier.
HUNTER saw Sergeant A and one or more other officers firing at or behind the barrier.
Seeing that there was no threat to the officers, defendant HUNTER shouted, “Cease fire!”
When the officers stopped firing, defendant HUNTER walked toward the back of the
truck on the passenger side. While defendant HUNTER was still on the passenger side of
the truck, near the walkway, he saw several civilians, who appeared to be unarmed, injured,
and subdued. Sergeant A suddenly leaned over the concrete barrier, held out his assault rifle,
and, in a sweeping motion, fired repeatedly at the civilians lying wounded on the ground.
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The civilians were not trying to escape and were not doing anything that could be perceived
as a threat.
Sergeant B and other officers started running up the bridge, as defendant HUNTER
moved up the bridge to where two female civilians were lying on the walkway, behind the
concrete barrier. The two females were lying on the ground, hugging each other and crying
in apparent pain. HUNTER saw that at least one of the females had suffered serious gunshot
wounds, and that both appeared terrified. One of the females had a gaping wound on her leg,
and had a large chunk of flesh missing from her calf. The other civilians were also seriously
wounded, including one man who was lying face-down, not moving.
Defendant HUNTER did not see any weapons on or near any of the civilians when
they were in the roadway, and he did not see any weapons on or near the civilians as they lay
dead or wounded on the walkway. No officers on the east side of the bridge said that they
had seen guns on or near the civilians after the shooting, and nobody asked the civilians
where the guns were. At no time did any of the civilians make any statements about having
fired at anyone.
Defendant HUNTER returned to the Budget truck, where he observed the assault rifle
that Sergeant A had borrowed from him. The magazine that had started off fully-loaded was
now empty, and the rifle was hot to the touch.
Defendant HUNTER and Sergeant A entered the cab of the Budget truck and
HUNTER drove to the crest of the bridge. On or near the crest of the bridge, they met
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Sergeant B, who said that civilians running toward the bottom of the west side of the bridge
had fired at him. HUNTER saw three black males running down the bridge, but they did not
appear to have weapons or to be a threat to the officers. Sergeant B may have fired an assault
rifle at the fleeing civilians.
An unmarked car driven by an officer with the Louisiana State Police (LSP)
approached from the east side and stopped near the crest of the bridge. Defendant
HUNTER, Sergeant B, and Officer A entered the car. Sergeant B sat in the back seat, on
the driver’s side. Officer A sat in the front passenger seat. HUNTER sat behind Officer A.
As the car moved down the bridge, defendant HUNTER saw three black males
running away, near the bottom of the bridge. None of the civilians appeared to be armed or
to be a threat to the officers. Two men, later identified as Lance and Ronald Madison, ran
down the right side of the road, while a third, older man ran down the left side. As the LSP
car drove down the bridge, defendant HUNTER focused on Lance Madison, who was
wearing black clothing, and Ronald Madison, who was wearing a white t-shirt, with blood
on it.
As Lance Madison ran toward the Friendly Inn, a motel at the bottom of the bridge,
Ronald Madison trailed approximately 20 to 30 feet behind him. The LSP car moved to cut
off Lance Madison and, in so doing, briefly pulled slightly ahead of Ronald Madison, who
continued to run after his brother. As Ronald Madison then ran past the slowing LSP car,
heading toward the motel, he passed by defendant HUNTER and defendant HUNTER had
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a clear view of him. Defendant HUNTER saw blood on Ronald Madison’s shirt, and
thought he might have been shot. Ronald Madison, who was running with his hands in view,
had no weapon and posed no threat. Ronald Madison did not change his direction, turn
around, or stop running as he passed the LSP car. Instead, Madison continued to run away,
following his brother, who was a short distance ahead of him. At no time as Ronald Madison
ran, did defendant HUNTER see him turn toward the officers, reach into his waistband, or
make any threatening gestures.
As the unmarked LSP car pulled to a stop, Officer A, without warning, fired a shotgun
at Ronald Madison’s back as Madison ran away in the direction of the motel. Defendant
HUNTER immediately got out of the car and went to where Ronald Madison was lying on
the ground. Ronald Madison was alive, but appeared to be dying. He was lying on his side,
with two officers standing nearby. Neither defendant HUNTER nor either of the other
officers searched Ronald Madison for a weapon.
As Ronald Madison lay dying on the pavement, Sergeant A ran down the bridge
toward Ronald and asked an officer if Ronald was “one of them.” When the officer replied
in the affirmative, Sergeant A began kicking or stomping Ronald Madison repeatedly with
his foot. Sergeant A appeared to be striking Madison’s torso with as much force as he could
muster. Defendant HUNTER charged toward Sergeant A, who backed off from Madison.
As defendant HUNTER walked away, an officer standing nearby appeared shocked that
HUNTER hadconfronted Sergeant A.
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Shortly thereafter, Sergeant A approached defendant HUNTER and apologized for
being “out of line.” Sergeant A then asked HUNTER if HUNTER “[had] a problem” with
the shooting on the east side of the Danziger Bridge.
While on the west side of the Danziger Bridge, defendant HUNTER heard Lance
Madison ask the officers why they had been shooting at him and his brother. Lance Madison
never said that he or his brother had possessed a gun or hador had fired at police, and Lance
Madison did not have a gun in his possession.
HUNTER knew without question that the shootings he saw on the bridge were “bad
shoots,” meaning that they were legally unjustified. HUNTER later heard that the civilian,
Ronald Madison, was a 40-year-old severely disabled man.
Later that day, back at the Crystal Palace, defendant HUNTER met with the sergeant
assigned to investigate the case (the Investigator), along with a lieutenant and other NOPD
officers who had been in the Budget truck on the Danziger Bridge. During a roundtable
discussion of the shootings on the Danziger Bridge, defendant HUNTER admitted that he
had fired his weapon many times on the bridge. During this meeting, the lieutenant turned
to an officer next to him and said something to the effect of, we don’t want this to look like
a massacre.
During the days and weeks that followed, the Investigator, Sergeant A, and Sergeant
B met repeatedly with other officers to discuss the shootings. The Investigator was writing
the NOPD report about the incident and defendant HUNTER understood