California IN BRIEF : OAKLAND : Officers Cleared in Rights Case

Federal prosecutors this week quietly dropped plans to prosecute two of the six Oakland Housing Authority police officers accused of conspiring to violate the civil rights of housing project residents. U.S. District Judge Fern Smith dismissed outright the case against Dennis L. Carter, 47, and will dismiss the case against Antoine E. Fisher, 30, in the next few weeks, according to Karen Snell, Fisher’s attorney. Carter and Fisher were among six officers indicted in August on charges of conspiring to steal, beat, threaten and intimidate residents of the Oakland project. Jurors last month convicted four other housing officers of conspiring to violate the civil rights of 12 residents.