Pubdate: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 Source: Oakland Tribune, The (CA) Copyright: 2003 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers Contact: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/314 Author: Glenn Chapman, Staff Writer Note: Staff Writers Harry Harris and Cecily contributed to this report. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Oakland+Riders Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) EX-COPS CLEARED OF 8 CHARGES, JURY HUNG ON 27 OAKLAND -- Months of deliberations in the infamous "Riders" trial ended with a hopelessly "polarized" jury acquitting three fired Oakland cops of some abuse charges and unable to come to verdicts on all the other counts. Mistrials were declared regarding 27 criminal charges on which jurors were irreconcilably divided. Alameda County District Attorney Thomas Orloff is exploring whether to try that portion of the case over in front of a new jury. "The last chapter in this case has not been written yet," Orloff said after jurors declared the accused Riders not guilty on eight criminal counts, ranging from kidnapping and assault to conspiring to make a false arrest. "It is a very important case to us ... It questions the very integrity of the system." Defense attorneys hailed the jury's actions Tuesday as exoneration for Clarence "Chuck" Mabanag, Jude Siapno and Matthew Hornung and said they would battle to win them back their jobs as Oakland police officers. "A horrific amount of money was spent to try to convict these guys in front of one of the best juries a prosecutor could want," Mabanag's attorney, Mike Rains, said while lambasting the concept of a retrial. "It could only get worse for the prosecution." Orloff is to reveal his decision about potential retrial at an Oct. 15 hearing in the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland. Mabanag, 38, Hornung, 31, and Siapno, 35, remain free on bail. "Keep it simple, is my advice," one juror said, telling an Oakland Tribune reporter the amount of evidence presented over the course of nine months was overwhelming. "Otherwise, people will not be able to cope." Jurors interviewed by The Tribune after the panel was dismissed described their 56 days of deliberation as polarized from the outset, with the fore-man proclaiming on day one there was too much reasonable doubt to convict on any of the 35 charges. The divided camps were described as "conservative" and "liberal," with one inclined to trust police and the other being skeptical of the integrity of cops. One juror concluded Batt "couldn't cowboy up" and face the teasing by peers and demands of the tough cop job. Middle-ground jurors were open minded regarding their positions, but the opposing factions reportedly tended not to budge. Some jurors agreed "some nasty stuff took place on the streets, but the evidence does not prove it," according to one juror. "The thing that was scary was, at the end, it felt like the personalities overtook the whole thing," a juror observed. "The sad thing was, the case was there but it was about people proving themselves right and getting over on the other person. It was ugly, so ugly." One faction of jurors deemed the prosecution's star witnesses, then police rookies Keith Batt and Steve Hewison, as unbelievable and felt Sgt. Jon Madarang's work leading the internal affairs investigation was so shoddy that it was sapped of credibility. The prosecution would have been wiser to rely on the work of District Attorney's Office Inspector Bob Conner, who impressed jurors with his professionalism and thoroughness, some jurors said. Jurors dismissed, or gave little weight, to the admitted drug sellers and users who testified as victims at trial, according to some panelists. One juror referred to purported beating victim Delphine Allen contending supposed Riders ringleader Frank Vazquez picked him up by his eye sockets and held him aloft while Mabanag beat the soles of Allen's feet. "There was a lot of unbelievable stuff going on in there," one juror said, "there were so many stories that didn't jibe." Not all jurors believed Mabanag and Siapno, who testified, but the fired officers struck the panel as veterans who "have been some places." One alternate juror, who was not part of deliberations, openly decried the absence of any African Americans on the panel that decided the fates of "The Riders." One of 12 main jurors expressed certainty that deliberations would have benefited from perspective of a black juror. All of those who testified to abuses by cops called "The Riders" were black. Mabanag and Siapno are Filipino, while Hornung is white and Vazquez is Mexican. Vazquez remains a fugitive. "I've never had a case that fundamentally meant more to me, personally and professionally, than this case," said David Hollister, the prosecutor who devoted years to the case before leaving to take another job. "There are firm lines that can't be crossed. This case highlighted those lines. "I am very proud of the system and thoroughly respect the work of the jurors," he continued. "I am dissolutioned, in the result, not the process .. I don't think I've ever had a case with this much evidence of the person's guilt." Hollister expressed outrage the fired officers "were able to ride on the coattails of their profession and the reputations of the honest cops who came before them." Nearly all the men who testified to being wronged by "The Riders" were linked to West Oakland's illicit drug scene. Defense attorneys argued to the jury that drug dealers coordinated fake stories to get revenge on effective law men. Mabanag, Siapno, Hornung and Vazquez were fired from their jobs as Oakland police officers after a rookie, Batt, went to internal affairs investigators in July 2000 with his suspicions regarding a cadre of rogue officers called "The Riders." Jurors found Siapno not guilty of kidnapping Matthew Watson and badly beating him under a freeway overpass one summer night. Watson was killed earlier this year while the victim of a carjacking in Oakland. An undertone to the trial was the contention of "Noble Cause Corruption," the inference it is morally acceptable to do nasty things to despicable people. Notes from the jury during deliberations hinted they were grappling with that concept. Jurors also declared Mabanag, Hornung and Siapno not guilty of conspiring to falsely arrest Jabaree Highsmith. The bulk of the charges stem from accusations the men conspired to frame suspected drug dealers and lied in reports to validate arrests or explain injuries. While the criminal trial was under way, Oakland officials paid out nearly $11 million to settle a civil suit filed on behalf of more than 100 people who claimed to have been abused by "The Riders." Rains decried City Attorney John Russo and other city officials as orchestrating a campaign to scapegoat Mabanag, Siapno and Hornung. Rains said he remained angered by the timing of the settlement, which he contends was announced during the trial in an effort to prod jurors toward guilty verdicts. Word publicly affirm Tuesday his condemnation of the behavior of "The Riders" and described the fired officers as "a cancer" that needed to be cut out of his department. "I thought there would be some guilty verdicts," Word said. "This is our style of justice. It's not perfect, it's not ideal but we have to respect it." Word said he remains satisfied with how the internal investigation was conducted and its outcome, particularly his decision to fire the officers. "The city has no obligation to rehire the officers, absolutely not. The fact that they had a hung jury is not a declaration of innocence," said Russo. "I don't see any scenario where they will get their jobs back, unless the court forces us to do so." Word extolled the reform package implemented because of the Riders scandal, saying the changes are improving police work in this city. "My view is the police are doing a hell of a job, I back them 100 percent," Mayor Jerry Brown said Tuesday. "I think these things can put it to rest .. given the fact that the jury spoke and we have invested millions of dollars in putting greater controls to avoid the kind of abuses that did in fact happen in this case, and that justified the firing of these police officers." Rains said the defense tab was close to $2 million and estimated the prosecution costs had to rival that amount. Orloff countered that there were few "marginal costs" associated with the prosecution because the prosecutor, court staff, and other expenses were fixed parts of the budget. The amount budgeted for Riders jury lunches during deliberations was nearly $11,000, and another $30,000 total was racked up in overall pay to jurors, who were also compensated for mileage. "We fired these cops because we thought they did not observe the kinds of standards we require and the law requires," Brown said. "I stand behind that judgment, I don't believe they are going to get their jobs back. They've lost their pensions, they had to sit through a grueling trial, they've been punished quite a lot." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake