FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1996 (202) 616-2765 TDD (202) 514-1888 FORMER NEW ORLEANS POLICE OFFICER AND LOCAL HIT MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A former New Orleans police officer and a hit man have been sentenced to death by a federal jury for conspiring to murder a woman who filed a civil rights complaint against the officer and his partner, the Justice Department announced today. A jury in U.S. District Court in New Orleans convicted former New Orleans police officer Len Davis of violating federal criminal civil rights laws by soliciting Paul Hardy to murder Kim Marie Groves, a New Orleans woman, after she filed a civil rights complaint against Davis and his partner. "This is a sober moment. Civil rights crimes are serious under any circumstances and when police officers break the laws they have sworn to uphold, they betray us all," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick. "Most officers are decent, hard-working individuals who risk their lives every day to protect their communities. But we will not hesitate to punish those who cross over the line -- to seek simple justice and to restore the community's faith. We respect the jury's decision." On October 12, 1994 Groves complained to the Internal Affairs Division of the New Orleans Police Department that Davis and his partner Sammie Williams had beaten a young man without justification. After learning about the complaint, Davis solicited Hardy to kill Groves. On October 13, Hardy, aided by a third defendant, Damon Causey, carried out the murder, and all three were found guilty last Wednesday. The jury sentenced Davis to death last Friday. Today it sentenced Hardy to death. Causey is scheduled to be sentenced on July 10, 1996. # # # 96-202