Practices of ‘Defense Reps’ Cited : Police hearing: Attorneys for Sgt. Beno Hernandez, charged with improperly assisting in a criminal trial, claim he is being used as an example.

A defense attorney charged Tuesday that top officials within the Los Angeles Police Department, including Chief Daryl F. Gates, have maintained a “common practice” of helping defend some police officers prosecuted for criminal misconduct.

Darryl Mounger, an attorney representing Sgt. Beno Hernandez, told a police Board of Rights hearing that his client did nothing different from what other LAPD officials have done in the past, and that Hernandez should not be punished for allegedly assisting the criminal defense of a police officer on trial last year for insurance fraud and theft.

“It has been a common practice of this department to protect people and assist people who have been criminally charged,” Mounger said.

“There have been numerous instances, and we will bring in an array of documents to show that that has been a common practice,” he added. “The chief of police has authorized it. And there has been nothing wrong with that practice because those people were blessed.”

Detective Larry Shelley, the police advocate representing the department, did not acknowledge or refute Mounger’s broad allegations. He did point out that the LAPD manual specifically prohibits officers from assisting criminal defense attorneys and defendants.

Hernandez, a 26-year police veteran and longtime police defense representative, has been relieved of duty in the wake of administrative charges that he improperly assisted in the criminal defense trial of Officer Ralph Gerard.

Should those charges hold up against Hernandez, he could face termination, and his departure likely would bolster accusations from other police defense representatives that the LAPD management is trying to muzzle their work assisting fellow officers in administrative discipline cases.

They contend that as “defense reps”--officers who defend policemen charged with administrative misconduct--they must be allowed to perform their duties unfettered by unreasonable demands from police administrators who bring the charges.

Tuesday’s hearing, held on the fifth floor of police headquarters, was jammed with numerous defense representatives, Internal Affairs Division investigators and officials from the Police Protective League. Many of them view the outcome of Hernandez’s case as pivotal for how rank-and-file officers will be treated in disciplinary cases.

Mounger did not elaborate on his assertions that police officials routinely assist other police officers charged with criminal wrongdoing. He did cite as an example the ongoing “39th and Dalton” case in which four police officers are to stand trial for vandalism next week in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

He sharply questioned why, if other police officials can assist officers in trouble, Hernandez cannot be allowed to do the same.

“He is being singled out,” Mounger said, contending that the department is trying to punish Hernandez and intimidate other police officers. “This is an attack on the defense rep system.”

Also on Tuesday, the board temporarily quashed a subpoena for Gates to testify at the hearing. Deputy City Atty. David Hotchkiss, who was representing Gates, told the panel that it would be improper for the chief to testify about why he ordered Hernandez to defend himself at the board hearing.

“His thought processes are absolutely privileged,” Hotchkiss said.

Mounger and co-defense attorney Enrique Hernandez argued that Gates has testified in other administrative hearings, and that his testimony is important for them to show the department “rule” that allegedly condones police officials assisting officers charged with criminal misconduct.

“If that is the rule, then the chief of police has to tell us that’s the rule and why Sgt. Hernandez is being picked on and discriminated against, when it’s been a common practice for Los Angeles police officers to assist criminal defendants,” Mounger said.

The first witness to testify Tuesday was James Koller, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted Gerard. He described how Hernandez attended almost the entire preliminary hearing and trial in the case, and that he often saw Hernandez conferring with the defense.