Pubdate: Fri, 5 Feb 2010
Source: New York Times (NY)
Page: A23 of the New York edition
Copyright: 2010 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Kareem Fahim
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Michael+Mineo

DEFENSE QUESTIONS EVIDENCE IN POLICE TRIAL

Lawyers defending three police officers accused of abusing a suspect 
in a Brooklyn subway station or covering it up mounted a wide-ranging 
attack Thursday on the case made by prosecutors, suggesting that 
forensic evidence may have been faked and that witness testimony did 
not back up the charges.

First, they tackled the accusations of a cover-up.

The prosecutors contend that on Oct. 15, 2008, the officers arrested 
a body piercer named Michael Mineo for smoking marijuana and then let 
him go with a summons, even though they knew he had outstanding 
arrest warrants. That light punishment, they contend, was intended to 
smother a crime: one of the three officers, Richard Kern, is accused 
of sodomizing Mr. Mineo with a baton. (The other two, Alex Cruz and 
Andrew Morales, face charges including hindering prosecution.)

But on Thursday, defense lawyers said the officers had been 
encouraged by their supervisors not to arrest people for smoking marijuana.

They called Deputy Inspector Peter J. Simonetti, the commanding 
officer of the 71st Precinct, in Brooklyn, who testified that the 
policy of the precinct was that "marijuana collars" were to be 
handled by rookies or officers on patrol.

Officers like Mr. Kern and Mr. Morales, who belonged to an anticrime 
unit, were supposed to focus on more serious offenses, like 
burglaries, the inspector said. They would not be punished for making 
marijuana arrests, he said, but they would have to explain themselves to him.

That testimony could be helpful to Officer Morales, who was not 
inside the subway station, but faces charges of falsifying records 
and official misconduct in relation to the writing of the summons. 
Prosecutors say he also heard Officer Kern threaten Mr. Mineo, 
telling him not to visit a hospital or a police station.

The defense lawyers have not yet said whether their clients will 
testify. In court, Justice Alan D. Marrus said he expects that 
testimony will wrap up next week and that the jury will hear closing 
arguments after the Feb. 15 holiday.

Most of the testimony Thursday focused on a small hole in the back of 
the boxer shorts Mr. Mineo was wearing the day of the confrontation: 
he has said it was caused by Officer Kern's baton, but a forensic 
specialist who used to work for the Police Department testified that 
the baton could not have made the hole.

The specialist, Nicholas Petraco, who is now a consultant to the 
Police Department, said the hole looked as if it had been punched out 
by a hollow object, like a metal tube. The edges did not have 
evidence of pulling or tearing, and there was no flap left over, "as 
you would expect if it was punctured."

A prosecutor, Charles Guria, challenged Mr. Petraco, asking whether 
he had taken into account all the possibilities: Couldn't fabric have 
been lost during the arrest, or as Mr. Mineo sat in a patrol car or 
when he got to the hospital? Mr. Petraco conceded that it could have been.

Jurors also heard testimony from James Dallas, the agent at the 
Prospect Park subway station, where Mr. Mineo was arrested. Mr. 
Dallas's wife, Andrea, and 13-year-old son, who had been at the 
station picking him up that day, testified for the prosecution at the 
trial's start.

Mr. Dallas, who stood about 10 feet away as Mr. Mineo lay handcuffed 
on the ground, said that he did not see any abuse but that his view 
might have been obstructed. A few days later, Mr. Dallas testified, 
Mr. Mineo returned to the station and asked whether it had any 
security cameras. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake