5 Murder Cases of Suspended Officer to Proceed

Prosecutors said Tuesday they plan to proceed with five gang-related murder cases that were investigated by Los Angeles Police Department detectives suspended last week for falsifying evidence in a similar case.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Genelin said he believes the five cases can be tried without relying on evidence collected by Detective Andrew Teague, an 18-year LAPD veteran who was among the 44 “problem officers” identified in the landmark 1991 Christopher Commission report and who was ordered Friday to turn in his gun and badge and stay home from work.

Genelin is still reviewing two other gang killings that Teague worked on to see whether they can hold up in court without his testimony or the evidence he handled. Overall, the district attorney’s office is reviewing 300 to 400 cases handled by Teague since 1982 to determine whether any must be reopened or dropped because of potential evidence tampering.

A second 18-year veteran, Detective Charles Markel, also was suspended Friday for saying nothing while Teague forged suspects’ signatures on identification reports and then lied about it in court. He worked with Teague on the seven gang cases, Genelin said Tuesday.

“It’s hard, and it’s a shock,” Genelin said. “It will be a shock to any lawyer who finds that they have a witness who may have distorted reality. You can’t help as a trial lawyer but feel that kind of an impact.”

Police detectives are typically the prosecution’s bread-and-butter witnesses in murder cases, walking the jury step-by-step through their investigation of physical evidence and witness interviews. In addition, officers often help prosecutors build rapport with other witnesses in the case who may feel comfortable with the officers because of their previous contacts.

“Essentially, you work somewhat as a team. You rely on the investigator not only to fill in [for the jury] some of the gaps that you may have, but to assist you during the course of the trial,” Genelin said. “He is the person who has gathered all of the evidence, who has interviewed the witnesses and written all of the reports.

Losing Teague’s testimony “just adds to the difficulty you have in a felony trial,” Genelin said.

Nevertheless, Genelin believes that the hard-core gang unit he runs will be able to pursue at least five of seven pending cases that Teague handled by corroborating the evidence that the detective collected. Genelin also said his office may ask LAPD to reopen some of the cases or use the district attorney’s staff to re-investigate the cases from scratch.

One of the cases that Genelin is not yet sure about prosecuting is the Nov. 29 slaying that resulted in Teague’s suspension when a defense lawyer asked to see the original documents in which the suspects were identified, and Teague eventually admitted that he had made them up. Murder charges against suspects Girard Moody and Kevin Adams were dropped last week, and the two were set free. But officials have said they may refile the case if they can find sufficient untainted evidence.

The other homicide defendants with pending gang-related cases that Teague investigated are Robert Alvez, Ruben Chagolla, Anna Dominguez, Javier Frausto, Joey Minjares and Augustin Rendon.

Albert De Blanc, Frausto’s attorney, said Tuesday that the revelations about Teague would “certainly have an impact” on his case, but he declined to speculate on how he might use the detective’s troubles to help his client.

“It’s subject to review. You can’t say something’s going to work to the benefit of your client until you’ve had a chance to completely review it,” he said. “Each case has to be examined independently by the lawyers involved on both sides. I have not come to any conclusions. I am relying on the district attorney’s office to take a look at it first, and then I will take a look at it.”

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Teague, one of 33 “problem officers” identified by the Christopher Commission who remain on the force, accumulated 18 citizen complaints during his tenure at the LAPD, officials said. In the four years since the report, Teague was the subject of two of those complaints--and was promoted to detective.

Markel and Teague were partners in the Hollenbeck Division while Teague was a detective trainee. Markel is still assigned to the Eastside division; Teague was most recently working in Van Nuys. Both are on indefinite paid leave while the LAPD’s Internal Affairs Division and the district attorney’s office conduct an investigation that could result in their ouster as well as possible criminal charges.

At the same time, the district attorney’s office is reviewing hundreds of cases handled by Teague and is contacting lawyers involved in those cases. That process has been complicated, authorities said, by the fact that Teague’s brother is also an LAPD detective, and therefore has cases listed in the computer database under the same name.

If the computer does not specify which Teague it is, district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said, prosecutors have to wade through stacks of files--dating back to 1982--to determine which officer was involved. Genelin said investigators were using Teague’s first name and badge number to double-check.

“He’s not involved in this, and we don’t want to bring him into this process,” Genelin said of Teague’s brother.

Times staff writer Alan Abrahamson contributed to this story.