Source: Detroit News Author: Jim Dyer, The Detroit News Pubdate: 22 Dec 97 Contact: http://www.detnews.com Note: This is a further installment in the series the Detoit News is running on the "breakdown of the justice system". They pose the question: If you were arrested do you think you would get justice from the system? Results to date: No 93% Yes: 3% "Case Dismissed: Justice Denied" COPS SKIP COURT FOR GOLF; DRUG SUSPECTS DISMISSED If suspected drug traffickers Miguel OconAcosta and Mario Rivera didn't appreciate the joys of golf before they were arrested, they probably do now. Arrested in May on charges that they had smuggled 88 pounds of marijuana into Allen Park, the two suspects had felony drug charges dismissed during their June 9 preliminary examination because the two arresting police officers were golfing. "I was not happy at all. It was professionally embarrassing," said Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Ray Walsh. "But we reissued the charges." But the charges against the two weren't reissued for two months. Both OconAcosta, 35, and Rivera, 47, fled the state immediately after their charges were dismissed and they were released from jail. Police believe they are in Mexico. Both initially were arrested after a lengthy investigation by members of the Combined Hotel Interdiction Enforcement Unit, CHIEFS, a special drug task force made up of local, state and federal officers. Michigan State Police Detective Lt. Mario Burns and Lt. Larry Heins took part in the arrest and were scheduled to testify during the preliminary examination in Allen Park. But both officers had reservations to play in the annual Michigan State Police Southeast Criminal Investigation Division's golf outing at Fox Hill's Country Club in Salem Township, their supervisor, Detective Ron Hnilica, said. The officers had tried to get the hearing adjourned to a later date, but "there was some miscommunication," Hnilica said. "It was really a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing," he said. Neither the assistant prosecutor nor the defense attorney had a problem with setting the hearing for a later date, he said. But Walsh said the decision to adjourn lies with the judge and that both officers knew that ahead of time. The judge, who did not approve the adjournment, dismissed the case when the officers did not appear in court. "As far as I'm concerned, they were going to be in court when the case came up," Walsh said. "Then they set up all of this shucking and jiving to get out of it and blew off the court date. They dropped the ball totally. It was ridiculous and embarrassing." Walsh found out that the two were golfing and immediately called their superiors for a meeting. "I let them know that I was not going to tolerate anything like that again," he said.