Pubdate: Fri, 16 Aug 2002 Source: Wichita Eagle (KS) Copyright: 2002 The Wichita Eagle Contact: http://www.wichitaeagle.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/680 Author: Tim Potter Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) JUDGE TO RULE ON POLICE CASE Judge Rebecca Pilshaw is expected to announce today if she sees a pattern of rights violations by Wichita police officers. After several days of testimony, a judge expects to disclose today whether she sees a pattern of rights violations by four Wichita police officers. The broader question for District Judge Rebecca Pilshaw is whether the officers committed illegal arrests, searches and seizures in up to 15 cases over the past two years. In a hearing last week, Pilshaw said she found one of the searches to be illegal. The narrower question for Pilshaw is whether to suppress evidence obtained in a search being used against Terry Marck, charged with making methamphetamine. In what has become a trial over police conduct and how the Police Department polices itself, both sides will get 45 minutes for final arguments today. Marck's lawyer, Kurt Kerns, contends that the four officers -- Sgt. John Bannister and officers Kevin Goebel, Andre Parker and Michael Thode -- illegally searched Marck's home and, in up to 14 other cases, violated others' rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. The four officers, most of whom are still based in a west-side crime- fighting unit, served suspensions with pay this spring, but were reinstated after a police internal investigation found only minor policy violations. That finding is at odds with a city legal staff memo that found serious violations. The 15-page memo arose after one of the officers' former supervisors, Lt. Tom Spencer, reported allegations of constitutional violations in 10 cases handled by the officers. Spencer has testified that he has suffered retaliation for raising the allegations. Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Mike Jennings asked Thode why concern for officer safety is sometimes partial justification for a search. Kerns has argued that police sometimes concoct officer-safety concerns as excuses to search. Thode, a 12-year veteran, noted that several years ago a burglary suspect shot him in the shoulder. "I've been spit on. I've been hit. I've been threatened," Thode said. Another of the accused officers, Goebel, testified that he did not threaten Curtis Sindorf in a search that was one of the cases of alleged misconduct. Sindorf has testified that he let officers search his apartment because Goebel threatened to tell his employer and landlord that he sold drugs, which Sindorf says was untrue. Another issue, Pilshaw has said, is how police handled criticism of their actions. Thursday, Bannister, another accused officer, denied saying that he thought an assistant city prosecutor didn't know how to do her job and denied becoming angry with an assistant district attorney. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom