Pubdate: Thu, 30 Oct 2003
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2003 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: ROBERT THARP, The Dallas Morning News

FAKE-DRUG CASE WITNESSES SET

Dallas Officers Will Testify For Ex-Detective's Prosecution, Defense

Dozens of Dallas police officers will testify for and against former 
Detective Mark Delapaz as he faces federal charges of lying in police 
reports about innocent people arrested on bogus drug charges.

According to court documents filed by both sides Wednesday in advance of 
the Nov. 10 trial, federal prosecutors will call up to 118 witnesses in 
their case against the former detective. Those expected to testify include 
detectives who directly participated in the drug busts and who have refused 
to cooperate with civil attorneys suing Mr. Delapaz and the city on behalf 
of those who were falsely arrested.

Defense attorney Paul Coggins will call up to 65 witnesses, including Mr. 
Delapaz's former partner, Officer Eddie Herrera. Mr. Delapaz is listed as a 
"probable" defense witness. Officer Herrera remains on paid leave from the 
department and has not been charged.

Mr. Coggins has said in previous interviews that he will mount a broad 
defense questioning Police Department procedures and showing that police 
commanders were aware of his client's work.

The defense team's "possible" witnesses include fired Police Chief Terrell 
Bolton and current police supervisors. Among those commanders are narcotics 
division Deputy Chief John Martinez and former division supervisor Deputy 
Chief William Turnage, who was promoted from lieutenant weeks after 
questions about the drug busts surfaced.

After a 15-month FBI investigation, Mr. Delapaz was indicted in April 2003 
on charges that he provided false information in the cases.

Agreeing to 'evil motive'

To reach a guilty verdict, jurors will have to agree that the former 
detective "willfully" lied on arrest warrants and to a Dallas County 
prosecutor and that he acted with a "bad purpose or evil motive," 
prosecution documents show.

Mr. Delapaz has also been charged with lying to an FBI agent who was 
investigating the matter. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Four prosecution witnesses are expected to testify about how they were 
falsely arrested by Mr. Delapaz, who was working with confidential 
informants to make the arrests. Several former confidential informants 
themselves former drug dealers ­ will testify about their working 
relationship with the detective and elaborate on how they fabricated fake 
drugs and set up innocent people for arrest, according to court files.

Three of the informants have pleaded guilty to setting up innocent people 
with fake drugs and are cooperating with prosecutors. What remains unclear 
is whether Mr. Delapaz was involved in the conspiracy.

Questions also remain about what happened to some of the more than $275,000 
that documents show police paid to the informants in these cases. One civil 
attorney for a former confidential informant said his client never received 
the money that department documents say he did.

Mr. Delapaz said in arrest affidavits and to a Dallas County prosecutor 
that he saw drug deals between confidential informants and those arrested. 
The federal indictment says the detective was lying when he said he 
witnessed the events. Without those statements from him, there would not 
have been probable cause to obtain arrest warrants, prosecutors say.

Pool chalk 'drugs'

Those arrested in the cases were charged with possession of large sometimes 
record-breaking ­ amounts of cocaine or methamphetamine. They sat in jail 
in lieu of high bail amounts, facing charges that could have brought life 
prison sentences until lab tests months later revealed that the white 
powdery substances were composed almost entirely of gypsum, the primary 
ingredient in Sheetrock or pool chalk.

While the federal trial focuses only on four cases, lab tests on 25 large 
drug seizures made by the officer in 2001 found the purported drugs to be 
phony. In some of the cases, the substances were entirely fake; others had 
less than 1 percent real drugs mixed in.

Dallas County prosecutors threw out more than 80 other drug cases because 
of their links to the narcotics officers or the confidential informants.

Both sides have given U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn notice that they 
have concerns that prospective jurors could be biased by intense media 
coverage the cases have received. They each plan to question jurors 
extensively about their knowledge of the scandal, as well as their feelings 
about police officers and drug laws.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart