NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Lawyers for the city of New Orleans have made their case to a federal appeals court as they try to get out of an expensive agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to overhaul the city's police department.
However, members of a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sharply questioned the city's contention Monday that it was misled by the Justice Department when it signed the agreement last year.
The city has said it was unaware of the potential costs of a separate agreement Justice officials later reached with Sheriff Marlin Gusman to reform the local jail. Financial details on that agreement are still being ironed out. There was a separate hearing going on Monday in U.S. District court on that subject.