Pubdate: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY) Copyright: 2004 The Courier-Journal Contact: http://www.courier-journal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97 Author: Gregory A. Hall, The Courier-Journal Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Louisville Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm ( Corruption - United States) POLICE CORRUPTION LAWSUITS COULD COST LOUISVILLE MILLIONS 10 People Claim Their Civil Rights Were Violated Almost a year after former Metro Narcotics partners Mark Watson and Christie Richardson were tried criminally in Jefferson County's largest police scandal in decades, the fallout is far from over. Even as the officers serve their sentences - he's in prison; she's on probation - six civil suits, involving 10 people who were cited or had property seized by the officers, are pending in Jefferson Circuit Court and U.S. District Court, alleging the detectives and local government violated citizens' civil rights when charging them with trumped-up charges. At least eight of the 10 people suing had been jailed by the officers; nine of the 10 either had charges against them dismissed or convictions overturned. Sentences ranged from probation to prison. One plaintiff, Robert Hardin, said his arrest on drug charges "was a nightmare." His conviction ultimately was set aside. The cases could cost Louisville metro government millions of dollars, based on verdicts and settlements in other police corruption cases throughout the country in the last several years. For example, Los Angeles agreed to pay $2.8million in 2002 to settle with seven victims of a police corruption scandal, and in 2000, Miami paid $2.5million to settle a civil case tied to one of a series of shootings where officers were accused of lying and tampering with evidence. Locally, Hardin's suit is the only one so far to specify the amount of damages sought; it seeks $5million. Each suit claims that police supervisors knew or should have known what the detectives were doing. Metro government lawyers have filed responses alleging that the detectives acted outside their duties, which they contend absolves the government of all responsibility. The former detectives, in their responses, deny any violation of constitutional rights and say they were acting under the scope of their employment. Watson is serving a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty to 299 felonies and three misdemeanors. The charges involve using photocopied judges' signatures on search warrants and illegal invasions of people's homes using the faked documents. A Jefferson Circuit Court jury found Richardson guilty in February of 20 felony charges, including 19 counts of tampering with public records and one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument. The jury also found her guilty of official misconduct, a misdemeanor. She is on probation. Since the investigation of the officers began in early 2002, prosecutors have dismissed or set aside convictions in more than 50 cases in which Watson and Richardson were involved. Prosecutors said that review continues. Richardson began in Metro Narcotics in 1995; Watson in 1998. Drug unit revamped Shortly after Richardson's trial, Metro Police Chief Robert White restructured the now-merged city-county police department, including Metro Narcotics, assigning street-level drug patrols to individual districts and ordering the revamped narcotics unit to address larger trafficking operations and vice. White said that while that restructuring was not directly in response to Watson and Richardson, other changes were, including a stipulation that narcotics sergeants supervise no more than six detectives, compared with as many as 10 previously. Ongoing meetings among narcotics supervisors also ensure that cases are being moved along, White said. One of the issues raised during the criminal investigation of Watson and Richardson was the failure to adhere to policies that required supervisors to witness some payments involving informants. Having fewer detectives under a sergeant allows for better oversight of such policies, White said. The chances of a scandal like Watson and Richardson's occurring again are "very remote," White said. But David James, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police, said he doesn't believe decentralization has worked, arguing that drug traffickers do not adhere to police district boundaries. "Narcotics is one of the leading driving factors of crime in this community," James said. A harrowing arrest Hardin, one of those whose suits is filed in federal court, said his arrest was harrowing. "You never forget it," Hardin said. "I think about it every day." Hardin was charged with drug trafficking and other offenses in 1998 after Watson and other detectives searched his home on Blue Lick Road, where he still lives, and said they found a small amount of crack cocaine and Valium. Hardin suffered chest pains during his arrest and was hospitalized. A drug screen there showed he was drug-free, according to records he produced in court. Hardin, now 45, maintains the drugs were planted. Watson denied any impropriety when Hardin requested that a judge suppress the evidence in his case. After the judge refused, Hardin entered an Alford plea, maintaining his innocence but acknowledging that enough evidence existed to convict him. That plea also wrapped up drug charges he faced in another case. He was sentenced to eight years' probation. Hardin said he believes the governments behind Metro Narcotics - now the merged metro government - should be held accountable. "Justice has not been served," he said. Most of the lawsuits now pending involve allegations by one person, although one filed by four plaintiffs in Jefferson Circuit Court is seeking class-action status. And an attorney for the plaintiff in the other Jefferson Circuit Court case, George Spencer III, said he wants his case merged with that one. Spencer's drug and drug paraphernalia conviction following his 1999 arrest was set aside in August 2002. His suit claims that the officers entered his apartment unlawfully with an invalid search warrant. Like Hardin, Spencer had entered an Alford plea, in which he acknowledged the evidence was sufficient to produce a guilty verdict but maintained his innocence. The four cases in U.S. District Court have all been placed on the docket of one judge, according to court orders. Besides Hardin, the plaintiffs in the other three federal suits are: Walter Elliott and his mother, Connie, who say Watson and Richardson forged a judge's signature and fabricated a search warrant to enter their West Muhammad Ali Boulevard apartment in January 2000. Walter Elliott later pleaded guilty to drug trafficking; the conviction was set aside in March 2002. Charges against his mother were dismissed, the suit says. Bruce Northington, who says that Watson and Richardson illegally entered his home in January 2002 with a bogus search warrant. The suit says Watson took $6,900 from Northington's safe. Northington's suit says he went to the FBI and shortly after that the detectives were arrested. Roney Grigsby, who says that Watson and Richardson used a forged warrant in October 1999 to enter a Heywood Avenue residence and confiscate $285 and three guns belonging to Grigsby. Criminal charges were dismissed, but Grigsby says he never got the property back. Bill Patteson, a spokesman for the Jefferson County attorney's office, which is defending the suits, would not comment on specific cases. But he said any judgments against or settlements by the metro government likely would be covered by insurance. Metro government "is equipped and is structured to deal with these situations without an undue amount of concern," he said. Officer files suit Attorneys in most of the cases said they expect their lawsuits to be resolved this year. Attorneys began deposing Watson Dec. 4, said Hardin's lawyer, William Yesowitch. Watson, who is acting as his own lawyer, declined an interview request made through prison officials. Richardson, meanwhile, has filed her own suit against metro government and Fraternal Order of Police insurers, trying to force them to help pay for her civil defense. Richardson's attorney in the civil cases, J. Key Schoen, said his client maintains that Watson is to blame for any civil-rights violations. "From everything I can tell, she's innocent, and that's all the more reason a defense should be provided to her," he said. Richardson has declined to comment since the scandal broke. She did not respond to a telephone message left at her home. A New York University professor familiar with civil-rights litigation said the cases against the government will turn on whether plaintiffs can prove that the officers' conduct amounted to "a systemic violation of constitutional rights" or whether the policies and supervision allowed it to occur. "Then, cities have been held liable for very substantial amounts under those circumstances," said Burt Neuborne, who also is former president of the American Civil Liberties Union. White said that while most police officers knew that civil cases inevitably would follow the criminal prosecution of Watson and Richardson, it is painful to reopen old wounds. "No one wants to relive this," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake