Attorney: Police wrong in charging Mackey

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NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The attorney for suspended Tulane linebacker Trent Mackey says his client was wrongfully charged after Mackey was arrested for the second time this summer.

Rick Kohnke said Wednesday New Orleans police had "misrepresented the facts" in charging Mackey on Monday in another burglary, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported.

Police reports said the victim of the second break-in called police after he saw news coverage of Mackey's August arrest in a July 12 burglary. The victim said the burglar woke him during the crime.

Kohnke charged in a statement that "Mr. Mackey's arrest in the first incident was a travesty -- the product of sloppy police work and an effort to protect the actual robbers. Trent's arrest for the second incident was 'orchestrated' by certain NOPD detectives in a lame attempt to shore up their first arrest."

The attorney said the second burglary occurred across the street from the first.

A police spokeswoman said the second victim picked Mackey's image out of a photo line-up as the person who broke into his home.