2 days of talks yields no verdict in Katrina case

NEW ORLEANS – A federal jury has deliberated for a second day without reaching a verdict in the trial of five current or former police officers charged in deadly shootings on a New Orleans bridge days after Hurricane Katrina.

Deliberations are scheduled to resume Friday.

During Thursday's deliberations, U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt met behind closed doors with prosecutors and defense attorneys for the first time since the jury received the case Wednesday. The reason for the meeting wasn't disclosed.

Four of the defendants are charged with civil rights violations in the shootings that killed two people and wounded four others on the Danziger Bridge less than a week after the 2005 storm.

All five are charged with participating in a cover-up that allegedly included a planted gun, falsified reports and fabricated witnesses.