NEW ORLEANS — A former New Orleans police officer was sentenced to more than 25 years in prison today for shooting a man to death without justification after Hurricane Katrina, and his ex-colleague was given just more than 17 years for burning the body.

The judge said he didn’t believe former officer David Warren’s testimony that Henry Glover, 31, posed a threat when he came to a strip mall less than a week after the August 2005 storm. Warren shot Glover to death and ex-officer Gregory McRae later burned his body in a car near a police station.

Lawyers for the men argued they deserved some leniency, partly because of the horrific conditions and chaos they faced following the hurricane.

“Your conduct was barbaric,” U.S. District Judge Lance Africk told McRae. “The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina was made uglier by your disturbing actions. At a time when more was expected of you, you failed miserably.”

McRae could have received 50 years and Warren faced up to life in prison.

Warren, 47, told jurors at the trial late last year that he opened fire because he feared for his life. Warren was guarding a police substation at a shopping mall when he said Glover and a friend pulled up in a stolen truck and started running toward a gate that would have given them access to the building.