Jurors Deadlocked on Charges Against 5 of 7 Defendants : Mistrial Declared in Police Corruption Case in Miami

A mistrial was declared Wednesday in the so-called Miami River Cops Case, ending a complicated four-month police-corruption trial that fell apart into a frustrating and expensive mess.

After 11 days of deliberations, the jury returned hopelessly deadlocked on various charges against five of the defendants but with unanimous verdicts--some for guilt, some for acquittal--on each of the counts against the two others.

Those verdicts would ordinarily have been routinely accepted by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp, salvaging at least part of the proceedings.

One Replies ‘No’

But when he polled the individual jurors, as is the custom, to see if this was indeed their decision, one man meekly replied: “No.”

“This isn’t your verdict?” Ryskamp asked, as the jammed courtroom hung on his answer.

“No,” William Rountree, juror No. 199, said.

The judge summoned the attorneys to the bench for a whispered conference. Then he again polled the panel.

“Members of the jury, when we poll you as to whether this is your verdict, we ask you if you concur,” Ryskamp said, hoping there had only been a misunderstanding.

But Rountree firmly repeated: “No.” Then he rocked back silently in his chair, a dour and determined man in a blue knit sports shirt.

Confused Lawyers, Defendants

Ryskamp sent the jurors back to the jury room, then announced the first of three recesses as confused lawyers, defendants and spectators scurried about wondering what would now become of the most notorious police scandal in recent Miami history.

“It’s crazy, just crazy, a helluva business,” said defense attorney Sam Burstyn.

Relatives of some defendants wept. A few brought back coffee for the wait. Several of the women grasped religious cards, alternately staring at the crucifixion and muttering prayers.

Ricardo Aleman, one of the accused, waved a folded piece of paper in the air: “The jurors obviously are cuckoo,” he said, strolling in the hall.

The defendants are seven current and former Miami policemen--Aleman, 27; Rodolfo Arias, 30; Osvaldo Coello, 26; Arturo de la Vega, 27; Armando Estrada, 27; Armando Garcia, 25, and Roman Rodriguez, 30.

Accused of Racketeering

Together, they are accused of running a racketeering gang that stole from drug dealers along the Miami River.

Some faced more charges than others. Coello, for instance, was charged with three counts. Estrada, alleged to be the ringleader, was charged with 19.

While all faced the possibility of long prison terms, three of the young officers--Estrada, Garcia and Rodriguez--could have drawn life sentences for their alleged role in three drownings.

In July, 1985, they were allegedly among 10 to 12 policemen who stormed an aging scow, the Mary C. Six men had just finished moving a load of cocaine from the boat to a van. When they saw the police, they jumped into the river and three died.

“If I can get him off on the drownings, that’ll be plenty victory enough,” Roy Black, Rodriguez’s attorney, said several times outside the courtroom during the trial.

Seemed to Have Victory

For a while, he seemed to have won that partial victory.

The jury form, returned by the jury foreman, showed Rodriguez guilty on four counts of racketeering and drug trafficking, but innocent on seven other counts, including the drownings.

Estrada, convicted on six counts, was acquitted on 13, including the drownings.

No verdicts were reached on all 35 counts against the other defendants. It was immediately clear those five would have to be tried again.

“We live to fight another day,” Arias, one of the defendants, said.

Crucial Question

But the juror Rountree’s dissent in open court raised a crucial question: Would Estrada and Rodriguez also be part of the retrial?

To sort things out, Judge Ryskamp eventually ordered Rountree into his chambers. The heavyset retired chef was asked his vote on every verdict.

His responses were a jumble. “On one count, he agreed; then asked again, he disagreed,” Black said.

Both sides then asked for a mistrial. Ryskamp so ruled.

The defendants and their families were clearly pleased. Nancy Garcia said she hoped her son would soon be home: “I hope to God tomorrow.” Maria Estrada, who had sobbed for hours about her husband’s fate, began patting rouge onto her cheeks.

The defense attorneys were also in high spirits, predicting that they will have the advantage in Round Two. “We’ve now seen everything in their arsenal,” Burstyn said.

‘Much More Difficult’

Prosecutor Michael Patrick Sullivan, clearly disappointed, admitted as much. “Retrial will be much more difficult because there has been full disclosure of all the government’s evidence,” he said.

However, Sullivan said that his office would try again. “We will go to trial on all the counts we went to trial on before, plus more,” he said.

Miami Police Chief Clarence Dickson said his department would work closely with prosecutors to prepare evidence for a retrial. “I’m toppled over by the evidence against them,” Dickson said. He said that even if they are found innocent, “I still won’t have them back in this department.”

The government’s case was largely based on the testimony of two informants, Armando Un and Pedro Ramos.

Stories Changed

Neither made an ideal witness, both being admitted drug dealers who snarled on the witness stand and whose stories changed each time they repeated them.

But some of what they said was supported by recordings secretly made in talks with Estrada, Garcia and Rodriguez. The jury heard those tapes three times, and the tapes were clearly critical to the few guilty verdicts that came back on Wednesday.