Pubdate: Thu, 31 Mar 2011
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: C - 1
Copyright: 2011 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.drugsense.org/cms/geoview/n-us-ca (California)

S.F. POT CASE TOSSED AS VIDEO CONTRADICTS POLICE

A San Francisco judge dismissed marijuana trafficking allegations 
Wednesday after finding a videotape contradicted officers' account of 
a drug search at a suspect's Richmond District apartment.

In the latest case in which video appeared to undermine police 
testimony, Superior Court Judge Gerardo Sandoval issued his dismissal 
order after a three-day preliminary hearing on drug dealing charges 
lodged against McLaren Wenzell, 23, stemming from the March 1 police 
search and seizure of 4 pounds of marijuana.

Sandoval cited inconsistencies in the police accounts with the videotape.

The case has strong similarities to the scandal unfolding against 
eight Southern Station officers, who have been reassigned from a 
plainclothes detail after videotapes appeared to contradict their 
accounts of several drug raids in a Tenderloin single room occupancy hotel.

So far, that scandal has triggered dismissal of 76 cases as well as 
an ongoing FBI probe.

District Attorney George Gascon issued a statement late Wednesday 
saying that he acted promptly when the earlier allegations surfaced, 
but stressed that this case is different.

"It is our assertion that the relevant evidence shows an interaction 
that corroborates the testimony provided," he said.

In the latest incident, three Richmond Station plainclothes officers 
asserted in police reports that Wenzell agreed to let them search his 
Richmond District apartment. Wenzell said Wednesday that he never 
gave the officers permission, but simply went into his unit without 
saying one way or other.

The officers recounted that they were answering a report of a 
possible marijuana grow operation inside the building on 33rd Avenue 
and Geary Boulevard when they encountered Wenzell as he came out of the unit.

They said that they had their stars visible outside their clothing 
when they talked to Wenzell, who admitted having a small amount of 
marijuana, showed them his prescription note and then let them in 30 
seconds after he went back inside his unit.

Public Defender Jeff Adachi, accompanied by Wenzell's defense 
attorney, Robert Amparan, played the surveillance tape at a press 
conference, pointing out that the tape clearly showed the officers 
did not have their stars visible as they entered the underground 
garage and as they walked down the hall toward Wenzell's unit.

They said it appeared that rather than waiting for Wenzell to go 
inside his unit and give them permission to enter, the officers 
simply followed him in from the hallway.

"The testimony (of the sergeant at the scene) was proven to be untrue 
in several critical respects," Adachi said at the press conference. 
"Based on the videotaped evidence presented in court and the 
testimony of the sergeant in court, Judge Sandoval dismissed the 
case, finding that the testimony was not credible and was not 
supported by the evidence."

Amparan said the sergeant who led the operation had trouble answering 
questions about the basis of the raid given the tape and the 
statements in police reports. "They said they obtained consent," he 
said. "But as the testimony showed the officers were not truthful." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake