Law and order ≠ Right and wrong
D.A. Won't Retry Officers
The decision disposes of the last criminal case in the LAPD's Rampart scandal. A judge had overturned the three convictions in 2000.
By Matt Lait and Scott Glover
Times Staff Writers
December 10, 2004
The district attorney's office announced Thursday that it would not retry three Los Angeles Police Department officers who had been convicted of conspiring to frame gang members during the Rampart scandal but later had their convictions overturned by the trial judge.
The development, which disposes of the last remaining criminal case that had stemmed from the scandal, was applauded by attorneys for Sgts. Brian Liddy and Edward Ortiz and Officer Michael Buchanan, who saw it as a vindication of their clients' claims of innocence.
"This was an entirely just and proper outcome," said attorney Paul DePasquale, who represents Liddy. "For the first time in five years, he doesn't have a criminal case hanging over his head."
But prosecutors said they still believe that the officers, two of whom remain with the LAPD and face internal disciplinary hearings stemming from the scandal, are corrupt. They said the decision not to proceed with a second trial was based on pragmatic considerations, which were prompted in part by the unavailability of witnesses who had testified in 2000.
The Rampart scandal began in 1999 when Rafael Perez, a former anti-gang officer accused of stealing cocaine that had been booked as evidence, agreed to identify other corrupt officers in exchange for a more lenient sentence on the drug charges he was facing.
Perez told authorities that officers in the Rampart Division's anti-gang CRASH unit had routinely beat and framed suspects and covered up unjustified shootings.
After Perez's allegations, more than 100 criminal cases were overturned because prosecutors had lost faith in the credibility of the officers who were involved in the cases. Nine officers, including Liddy, Ortiz and Buchanan, were criminally charged. More than a dozen others resigned or were fired amid allegations of misconduct.
