Pubdate: Sun, 05 Jan 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: Todd Bensman

FIRED OFFICER RETAINS COGGINS

Ex-U.S. Attorney Has Criticized Police Over Fake-Drug Scandal

Paul Coggins, who served for eight years as the Department of Justice's top 
prosecutor for North Texas, has taken over the criminal defense of a former 
Dallas police narcotics officer indicted in the fake-drug scandal.

Mr. Coggins, a frequent media commentator on the scandal, appeared 
Wednesday in federal court at the side of former Senior Cpl. Mark Delapaz. 
The fired officer pleaded not guilty to six federal charges during his 
arraignment.

He is accused of submitting false reports on drug cases in which innocent 
people were jailed on bogus evidence planted by paid police informants. If 
convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

The charges are the first against an officer since the FBI began 
investigating 15 months ago. More than 80 tainted drug cases have been 
dismissed.

A number of legal experts said Mr. Coggins' familiarity with federal 
judges, investigative agencies and Justice Department strategies would 
prove advantageous for the defendant.

Until his termination on Friday, Mr. Delapaz had his legal bills for 
attorney Bob Baskett paid by the Dallas Police Association.

Mr. Coggins said his defense for Mr. Delapaz's scheduled June 30 trial 
would focus on the role police commanders played. He said that Mr. 
Delapaz's wife, a Dallas officer, asked him to defend her husband and that 
his firm agreed to do it at "less than our corporate rate."

"The analogy that I would use is that Dallas has had an outbreak of food 
poisoning, and they've nabbed the waiter," said Mr. Coggins, who has been 
in private practice since leaving the U.S. attorney's office in February 
2001. "We're going to shine the light in the kitchen and on the suits. 
Mark's defense is going to be to get out as much of the story as he 
possibly can."

Mr. Delapaz's former attorney said he would stay on to appeal the firing. 
Mr. Baskett said that his client was robbed of his presumption of innocence 
and that the firing broke department rules that require an internal affairs 
investigation in which facts support specific policy violations. A 
department statement issued Friday said the officer was being fired for 
"adverse conduct" following an internal affairs review.

Mr. Baskett said no internal affairs investigation "of any substance" took 
place as required. He noted that the department suspended its internal 
investigation to make way for the FBI's inquiry.

"What happens if he's acquitted or the case is dismissed?" Mr. Baskett 
asked. Internal affairs "called him in Friday and asked if he got indicted. 
He said yes. They asked him if he did it. He said no. And that was it. They 
sent him up to [Chief Terrell] Bolton. They can't do it the way they did it."

Police spokeswoman Janice Houston said the termination was handled correctly.

"The department followed its procedures in this case, as it does in all 
cases," she said. "Delapaz does have appeal rights just like any officer."

Until recently, Mr. Coggins was representing former Texas Attorney General 
Dan Morales in a high-profile public corruption case. Mr. Morales recently 
opted for a government-paid public defender.

Mr. Coggins held out the possibility he may return to that case while also 
defending Mr. Delapaz.

Several Dallas defense attorneys said Mr. Coggins' involvement should prove 
challenging.

"He'll know what information in discovery to seek. ... He'll know how to 
judge the importance of information contained in the FBI reports. He'll 
know what the FBI will be able to do and not do," former U.S. Attorney 
Marvin Collins said. "I would say that on balance it certainly is an 
advantage to have someone intimately familiar with the federal system, the 
judges and particularly the sentencing guidelines."

Dallas defense lawyer Reed Prospere said prosecutors would have a tough 
case ahead with Mr. Coggins on board.

"You know that you're not going to win the case by out-lawyering the other 
side," he said. "It forces somebody to look at their deficiencies in a 
different light."

Since the fake-drug scandal became public in late December 2001, Mr. 
Coggins has called for outside scrutiny of the Police Department's handling 
of the scandal, emphasizing at one point "that if there are some bad apples 
on the force, we're going to get rid of them."

On Wednesday, he said he was more convinced than ever that systemic 
problems within the department led to the jailing of innocent people.

"The test is, what did they do about it?" he said. "I think that when that 
test is given to Mark, he's going to pass with flying colors, but I think 
there are others who are going to fail that test."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens