Tables Turn for Champion of Accused : Police: Officer, used to defending colleagues against LAPD charges, faces internal hearing over allegations of rape and soliciting murder. D.A.’s office earlier rejected the case.

Among many rank-and-file Los Angeles police officers, Musa T. Camara is known as “The Don” or “The Godfather”--a resourceful and well-connected officer who has spent years going to battle for colleagues accused of wrongdoing and who has made his share of enemies in the process.

On Sept. 27, the Don will return to the scene of many of those confrontations, the Spartan board of rights room on the fifth floor of police headquarters. But this time, Camara will be the one facing charges, a shocking list of allegations including accusations that he raped a woman, tried to kidnap his son and tried several times to persuade a neighbor’s son to kill his ex-wife.

Camara vigorously contests all the charges, and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office rejected the case in November--in part because prosecutors concluded that the witnesses to the alleged offenses lacked credibility. According to district attorney files, one witness, Robert Trejo Jr., had trouble remembering when Camara asked him to carry out a murder and struggled to recall how much Camara offered to pay for that job.

Trejo’s father also was interviewed, and told prosecutors “that his son had mental problems and that he fabricates on a regular basis,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Michele Gilmer said in rejecting the case.

Despite that decision, the LAPD has pressed ahead, accusing one of its own of criminal misconduct and prompting Camara to hire attorneys Paul DePasquale and Russell Cole and to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against his employers. Camara, who joined the LAPD in 1981, claims that the case against him is a vindictive action by his bosses and is motivated in part by the fact that he is black and Muslim. Camara also is an outspoken critic of the department who has railed against what he sees as racism within the LAPD.

“It is my contention that the investigation and adjudication of this complaint against me was conducted in a biased, unprofessional, vindictive and malicious manner,” Camara states in his internal response to the charges against him, a copy of which was obtained by The Times. “The purpose and aim of the investigation . . . was to find Musa T. Camara guilty of misconduct by any means possible.”

In person, Camara is no less blunt: “They’ve accused me--an honest man, a religious man, a family man--of committing horrible crimes, of sexual crimes, solicitation for murder, kidnaping people, saying that I’ve raped people. . . . I want my name cleared.”

The department officials who have leveled the charges, Camara adds angrily, “are liars, all of them.”

As they typically do in personnel matters, department officials declined to comment on the Camara case. But Capt. Eric Lillo, the commanding officer of the LAPD’s Internal Affairs Division, strongly denied that the disciplinary system treats officers differently based on their race or religious affiliation.

“The department has had a longstanding practice of very diligently avoiding any reference to an officer’s race or religion,” Lillo said. “During my career, the department has bent over backward to be fair.”

Still, with more than a month to go before the hearing convenes, Camara’s latest struggle with the Police Department has become a cause celebre among his fellow officers.

Some see it as evidence that the LAPD will go to almost any lengths to stifle criticism, especially when it comes from African American officers. To them, Camara is a courageous critic of LAPD racism and a stalwart advocate for his “clients,” the officers who have solicited his services when charged with violations of LAPD policy.

Under LAPD rules, officers charged with administrative wrongdoing can request representation from a colleague free of charge. Camara was first asked to represent a fellow officer in 1986 and in recent years has worked as a “defense rep” full time.

Sgt. Leonard Ross, president of the Oscar Joel Bryant Assn., said he is concerned that the department is overzealously pursuing Camara and that its efforts have tarnished Camara’s reputation.

“This is a high-profile case because he’s a well-known guy,” said Ross, whose association represents African American LAPD officers and is conducting a study to determine whether they are subjected to unfair discipline. “I have a lot of concerns that this has not been properly investigated or adjudicated.”

Among some Internal Affairs authorities and other critics, Camara is considered an obstinate, sometimes insubordinate officer who refuses to submit to authority and who willingly defies department policy when it suits his interests to do so.

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In 1993, Internal Affairs accused Camara of insubordination, a charge that can lead to dismissal. In that case, the charge was based on Camara’s failure to appear at another officer’s board of rights, a failure that LAPD investigators said was in defiance of the board chairman.

Camara was found not guilty of that charge, but he emerged from the hearing convinced the department was bent on getting him fired. Some officers who know him agree, and even those who are not his friends have their doubts about the department’s current set of charges.

“He’s crazy,” said one officer with long ties to Camara. “He loves to give Internal Affairs hell, and it drives them nuts. But did he try to get his wife killed? That’s a whole other story.”

Cliff Ruff, the treasurer of the Los Angeles Police Protective League and a longtime acquaintance of Camara, said:

“You have to question the credibility of these witnesses. Musa was a tenacious fighter who went all out for the officers he represented. . . . It would be out of character for the individual I know to have done the things that the department is suggesting.”

The specific charges against Camara span the period from 1987 to 1992. He is accused of trying to get Trejo and two women to kill his ex-wife. He also is charged with kidnaping and raping one of those women and letting his ex-wife accept welfare benefits to which she was not entitled while they were still married.

All told, Camara is facing six counts. A guilty finding on almost any of them would surely result in his dismissal.

In rejecting the case for criminal prosecution, district attorney’s officials cited the unreliability of several witnesses and said it would be difficult to get a jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Camara committed the crimes. The standard at a police disciplinary hearing is lower, however, as department commanders must only find that a preponderance of the evidence favors a finding of guilt.

As a result, Camara could be fired for criminal acts, even if prosecutors never charge him with those crimes.

“This is an important case for the department, not just for Musa,” Ross said. “People will be watching.”