Pubdate: Wed, 26 Jan 2000
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Orange County Register
Contact:  P.O. Box 11626, Santa Ana, CA 92711
Fax: (714) 565-3657
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Section: News
Page: 4
Author: Linda Deutsch, The Associated Press
Bookmark: MAP's link to California articles is: http://www.mapinc.org/states/ca

10 MORE CASES TOSSED BECAUSE OF LAPD CORRUPTION

COURTS: In all, 22 involving police misconduct have been dismissed.

LOS ANGELES -- In the latest aftershock from a police scandal that has
shaken Los Angeles, a judge Tuesday dismissed 10 drug and weapons
convictions because they were tainted by corruption.

That brought to 22 the number of cases thrown out because of police
misconduct.

The scandal is "the most important case I have seen this office handle in
my 31 years here. It goes to the heart of the criminal justice system,"
said Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti, who sought the
dismissals.

Garcetti said his office probably will seek reversal of another two dozen
or three dozen cases contaminated by false testimony and the planting of
evidence.

The scandal, the worst for the LAPD in decades, has centered on an
anti-gang unit in the Rampart Division. Twenty officers have either
resigned or been suspended.

Paul Thompson, 34, had his conviction overturned and was ordered
immediately freed from prison. He has served half of a six-year sentence
for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Former LAPD officer Rafael Perez has admitted that he testified falsely
during Thompson's trial.

Thompson plans to sue but remains fearful of police, said his attorney,
Carlos Spiga.

Also reversed was the drug conviction of Octavio Davalos. The 41-year-old
upholstery worker served 91 days and was on three years' probation after
pleading guilty to possessing and selling cocaine and marijuana. Perez has
said he falsified the police report.

"I was never guilty of nothing," Davalos told reporters. He said he agreed
to a plea bargain because he was threatened with eight years in prison.

Davalos' lawyer told Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler his client
would like to recover expenses in connection with the case.

Most of the cases reversed Tuesday involved defendants who pleaded guilty
or no contest in return for probation or short prison sentences. Perz said
he and his former partner, Nino  Durden, planted evidence in the cases or
lied in police reports.

Perz, a former Rampart anti-gang officer, pleaded guilty to stealing
evidence cocaine from a police locker. He has been cooperating with the
corruption probe in an attempt to lighten his sentence.

Durden has not been charged in the scandal.
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