Yet Justin Volpe is still rotting in Federal prison for raping another man who he thought hit him in a fight outside a bar. If a case goes Federal, there’s often a conviction on civil rights charges. As I recall, some of the Rodney King cops ended up serving Federal time as well.

(The Volpe affair is actually sort of a sad story. His father was Bob Volpe, an talented artist who became a cop and ended up investigating art forgery and theft. By all accounts, a decent, intelligent man. He ran himself ragged, driving 2000 miles round trip every month to visit his son in prison and dying too young of a heart attack.)