Lance Schilling, 30, was accused of beating a retired African-American schoolteacher on Bourbon Street shortly after Hurricane Katrina.
Although a trial for the 2005 incident was set for June 29, looks like Schilling won't be present.
Why? The former New Orleans police officer was found dead in his home in suburban Metairie of a gunshot wound to the roof of the mouth Sunday night. Coroners have concluded it was a suicide.
Franz Zibilich, who represented Schilling, said he was saddened by his client's death. He believed the suspected suicide had no connection to the pending trial. "The truth be known, he was looking forward to having this matter tried and heard," Zibilich said.
Schilling and former officer Robert Evangelist were accused of beating Robert Davis, 64, who had returned to New Orleans to check on his property in October 2005.
The beating incident was captured on videotape by an Associated Press Television News team the night of Oct. 8, 2005.
The tape shows the elderly Black man being kneed and struck at least four times on the head by two police officers. Davis flailed as he was dragged to the sidewalk, where he lay bleeding.
Initially booked on municipal charges of public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation, Davis maintained that when police grabbed him, he wasn't drunk and was only on Bourbon Street to buy some cigarettes.
Not surprisingly, all charges against Davis were later dropped.
Joe Bruno, a lawyer for Davis, said that Davis is undergoing psychiatric treatment in Atlanta, where he's lived since the beating. Bruno said Davis is emotionally scarred and is apprehensive about returning to New Orleans.
"He's not doing well emotionally," Bruno said Monday.
Meanwhile, Davis' federal civil lawsuit against the New Orleans Police Department seeking compensation has been put on hold pending the outcome of the criminal case, Bruno said.
New Orleans police spokesman Marlon Defillo said Schilling had not been with the department since December 2005.
FOX NEWS