ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — Inside the Alexandria courtroom on March 3, Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud, one of the police officers charged with the death of Khaled Said, 28, reeled back when the judge announced he would be serving a 10-year prison sentence alongside co-defendant Awad Soliman. A guard inside the dock rubbed Mahmoud's back. It was a gesture of pitiful consolation surrounded by an iron cage, a wall of geared-up Central Security Forces troops.

Arguments had already broken out between police and members of the defendants' families. "Where are the police generals?" Mahmoud's brother screamed after the verdict was announced. "Why do they not protect their officers?"

Some expect the sentence to be reduced should the appeals court accept an appeal by the two men. A hearing expected within the next 30 days will explain the sentences based on case evidence.

Police accused of killing civilians during the 18 days of the 2011 revolution have recently walked free. Six police officers previously charged with killing 83 protesters in Alexandria were acquitted on Feb. 22. Few police officers have been successfully charged with killing civilians since the January 25 Revolution — one famous exception was "The Eye-Sniper," 1st Lt. Mahmoud Sohby el-Shinnawy, who was handed a three-year sentence for deliberately firing cartouche rounds at protesters on Mohamed Mahmoud Street in November 2011.