L.A. Judge Quashes Verdicts Won by Crooked Cops

Wednesday, November 10, 1999

L.A. Judge Quashes Verdicts Won by Crooked Cops

By Michael Miller

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A judge on Wednesday ordered a prisoner freed from jail immediately and quashed the convictions of four other men after hearing that evidence was planted on them by rogue officers in a scandal that has rocked the Los Angeles Police Department.

Los Angeles County Court Superior Judge Larry Fidler issued his orders at the request of the District Attorney's office, which is investigating the scandal in which 15 anti-gang officers have either been fired or suspended from the LAPD's Rampart Division on suspicion that they planted evidence and took part in criminal activities.

Court papers showed that four of the five had pleaded guilty, even though they knew they were innocent, because, in the words of defense lawyer David Brockway, "If you fight Rampart, you are going to lose."

Brockway, whose client Joseph Jones was ordered released from prison, said he had advised Jones to accept a plea bargain in which he admitted to one of two charges of cocaine possession in return for an eight-year sentence.

If he had pleaded not guilty and had been convicted on both charges, Brockway said, he would have been liable to a minimum of 25 years to life in prison under California's three strikes law. Jones had a prior felony conviction for robbery.

"With that pressure over his head, and the very convincing and persuasive officers Perez and Durden testifying against you, what were his chances at trial? You can't fight the police, you can't fight city hall," Brockway said, adding that he expected his client to be freed later on Wednesday.

In petitioning for the convictions to be overturned in all five cases, District Attorney Gil Garcetti noted in court papers that the move was "undoubtedly highly unusual."

The scandal -- one of the worst in LAPD history -- centers on former officer Rafael Perez, who has pleaded guilty to stealing almost $1 million worth of cocaine from police evidence lockers and selling it on the street.

Perez is cooperating with the probe into corruption and in return has received a sentence of five years in jail. He has implicated his former partner, Officer Nino Durden, in a number of false arrests.

According to court papers, Jones and another defendant, Manuel Perez, were arrested in 1997 by Durden and Rafael Perez on trumped up charges, to which both pleaded guilty.

Manuel Perez fled before his sentencing but was caught in Texas and subsequently deported to his native Honduras. Fidler threw out his case on Wednesday.

Another case involved Miguel Hernandez, who pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon and was sentenced to 16 months in jail. He was released on parole after eight months.

Rafael Perez has admitted that he and Durden planted the gun on Hernandez, and Fidler ordered that the conviction be overturned and that bail be terminated.

Carlos Romero and Wil Rodriguez were also victims of the two rogue officers, the district attorney's office told Judge Fidler. The officers planted drugs on them and arrested them in 1997.

Romero served a year in prison before being released on parole. However, he subsequently was rearrested for selling drugs and sent back to jail for nine years. Fidler ordered that his original conviction be thrown out and that he be brought back to court for more lenient sentencing on the second charge.

Rodriguez fled before making a plea and Fidler threw out the charge against him.