(FinalCall.com)---A three-judge panel representing the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia June 24 reinstated conspiracy and violation of civil rights convictions of five Orange, N.J., police officers.

The officers, after a seven-week trial in November/December 2000, had been found guilty of beating and pepper spraying Earl Faison, 27, an aspiring rap artist who had been arrested in the death of officer Joyce Ann Carnegie, also a member of the Orange Police Department.

An autopsy found no traces of the spray in Mr. Faison’s lungs; therefore, state prosecutors said they found no evidence to charge the officers with murder.

After months of protests by activists, the federal government agreed to try the officers on violation of Mr. Faison’s civil rights. However, five months after the jury found the officers guilty, the presiding judge, John C. Lifland, overturned the jury’s guilty verdict.

"We feel very good about the appeals court ruling," Lawrence Hamm, chairman of the Newark-based Peoples Organization for Progress (POP), told The Final Call. This is a positive step along the road to justice for Earl Faison, he added. For the past three years, POP has organized marches and vigils in Newark, Trenton and Philadelphia, demanding justice for Earl Faison.

However, Mr. Hamm says the struggle is not over.

"The federal convictions are for conspiracy and civil rights violations. No one was found guilty of murder, manslaughter or even assault," Mr. Hamm observed. "We demand that the New Jersey State Attorney General reopen the investigation into Earl Faison’s death."

Calls to the New Jersey State Attorney’s office were not returned.

Judge Lifland ruled that a conspiracy could not be inferred from evidence presented, and that there were other "plausible and non-conspiratorial explanations." The judge also ruled that certain acts such as filing false reports after Mr. Faison’s death could not be considered evidence of a conspiracy under court precedents.

Judge Richard L. Nagaard, writing the majority opinion for the appeals court, stated: "It is intuitive that concerted actions to cover up the circumstances of Faison’s death, taken just minutes after his death, have a tendency to suggest that the acts of brutality were undertaken as part of an agreement as opposed to having been random uncoordinated acts."

Two officers were set free by Judge Lifland, and do not face the penalty of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy charges. Three other officers, guilty of violating Mr. Faison’s civil rights, have not served any time and are free pending appeals.

The lawyer for former police officer Tyrone Payton, one of those found guilty, said his client was "very upset" at the news. "These officers have been on a roller coaster and are still in for the long haul," William D. Sayers told reporters.

Anthony J. Iacullo, the lawyer for Andrew Garth another guilty officer, told reporters that every avenue of review, including a rehearing and going to the U.S. Supreme Court, would be explored.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney for New Jersey said there would be no comment at this time on the ruling, nor on the status of the former police officers.