Danziger Bridge Shootings Update: Ex-NOLA officer freed pending retrial in deadly shooting

(CBS/AP) NEW ORLEANS - Arthur Kaufman, a retired New Orleans police sergeant, has been released on bond while he awaits a new trial on charges stemming from deadly shootings in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt said in Tuesday's order that Kaufman is not charged with violent conduct in connection with gunfire at the Danziger Bridge, where police shot and killed two unarmed people and wounded four others on Sept. 4, 2005.

Prosecutors had not opposed Kaufman's latest bond request, noting Kauffman didn't fire a gun in the incident.

Kaufman is one of five former officers whose convictions were thrown out when Engelhardt ruled the case had been tainted by prosecutorial misconduct. Kaufman was serving a six-year sentence.Jurors had convicted him of participating in a cover-up.

Kaufman is the first of the five convicted former officers to be granted a release from prison, reports CBS affiliate WWLTV.

Kaufman's bond was set at $100,000.

Complete coverage of the Danziger Bridge shootings on Crimesider