Dismissed as Defendants, Deputies Face Job Ruling

Two suspended Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, dismissed as defendants in a federal civil rights trial, are the targets of a departmental investigation to determine whether they will be able to return to their jobs, Sheriff Sherman Block said Wednesday.

Deputies Edward D. Jamison and Roger R. Garcia had been charged--along with four other former narcotics officers--with skimming drug money and violating the civil rights of drug suspects until a federal judge on Monday dropped Jamison and Garcia from the case.

U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi dismissed all the counts against Garcia and Jamison and reduced the remaining charges against their co-defendants after a jury had acquitted the officers on 14 counts and deadlocked on 13 others. Prosecutors had sought to retry the defendants on all of the unresolved counts, but Takasugi dismissed those counts where jurors were leaning toward acquittal or had split evenly.

Speaking at his monthly media gathering, Block said he was disappointed at the decision. Under Civil Service rules, he said, the Sheriff’s Department was now conducting an administrative probe of Garcia and Jamison--who have been suspended without pay since they were indicted last year.

“That encompasses an investigation based on whether or not their actions were in violation of department policies and procedures and what our administrative remedy will be,” Block said. “It could be anything from reinstatement to a discharge.”

No administrative inquiries are planned for the other deputies--John L. Edner, J. C. Miller and Robert S. Tolmaire--because criminal charges are still pending against them. The fourth defendant, Stephen W. Polak, is a Los Angeles police detective.

Attorney Lindsay A. Weston, who represents Garcia, said her client hopes to resume his law enforcement career. But she acknowledged that her client and the other deputies remain targets of an ongoing federal investigation that could result in additional indictments.

“I think he’d really like to go back to being a deputy, but I don’t think we’ve gotten the final word,” Weston said. “The government is like a pit bull. It won’t let go.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Emmick declined comment on whether Garcia remains under investigation, but he told Judge Takasugi earlier that Jamison may be indicted on income tax charges--a move that would halt any administrative proceedings against him.

In addition, Emmick said Wednesday that his office is reviewing Takasugi’s ruling and is “considering options including the availability of any appeal” to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In his written ruling, Takasugi dropped Garcia and Jamison from the case and dismissed four counts each against Edner and Miller. Although the judge had also dismissed four counts against Tolmaire and Polak in his ruling from the bench, he reinstated one of those counts against Tolmaire and two against Polak in his written order--apparently after double-checking the jury votes.