Police Version of Killing Apparently Unraveling

Prosecutors will ask a judge to overturn the conviction of a gang member accused of assaulting police during a controversial 1996 shooting in which Los Angeles Police Department officers from the scandal-plagued Rampart Division killed one man and wounded two others, sources said Monday.

The court action, which is expected next Tuesday, is significant because it suggests that prosecutors no longer have confidence in the accounts of officers who were involved in the shooting characterized by former officer-turned-informer Rafael Perez as “dirty.” It is potentially the most serious case under review in the expanding LAPD corruption scandal in that a homicide occurred during an incident involving alleged police misconduct.

Prosecutors will join in a petition filed on behalf of Oscar Peralta, an 18th Street gang member who was shot after he allegedly pulled a gun on anti-gang CRASH officers in an apartment building in the 600 block of South Shatto Place.

In court papers, Bruce Brown, Peralta’s lawyer, said prosecutors have repeatedly referred to Peralta as the “victim of a police crime.” Prosecutors previously have acknowledged that the corruption probe has uncovered evidence that may exonerate Peralta, but have refused to disclose the information, saying that it would hinder an ongoing criminal investigation into police misconduct.

“This is a tactical maneuver to make sure that the information we are seeking will never see the light of day until they want it to,” Brown said. “What I think it does is heightens the chance that there ultimately will be an indictment filed against some members of the Rampart CRASH unit. This is a sign which lends credibility to Mr. Peralta’s claim that he shouldn’t have been a defendant, but was a victim.”

A grand jury has been convened to examine the possible criminal conduct of officers involved. At least two officers, and perhaps others, who were present at the Shatto Place shooting have been subpoenaed. It is unclear whether they have yet testified. Although prosecutors and investigators suspect serious police misconduct in the shooting, sources close to the investigation say that proving such crimes is another matter.

Perez, who will receive a lighter sentence on cocaine theft charges in return for his cooperation, says he is testifying to clear his conscience, his attorney Winston Kevin McKesson said.

So far, more than a dozen officers have been relieved of duty in connection with the Rampart scandal. Officials expect that number to grow as the investigation continues, and say that some officers may face firings or even criminal charges.

The investigation to date includes allegations of bad shootings, beatings, drug dealing, witness intimidation, evidence planting, false arrest, perjury and other misconduct. As a result of the probe, two men have been released from prison and half a dozen others have had their convictions overturned or charges dismissed.

More than half a dozen officers who were present at the Shatto Place shooting on July 20, 1996, have been assigned to their homes. Several of those officers contacted by The Times have denied any wrongdoing and accuse Perez of lying to obtain leniency.

Nonetheless, detectives in recent weeks have ratcheted up their investigation, escorting Perez out of jail for a secret predawn walk-through of the apartment building where the shooting took place. With LAPD SWAT officers standing guard, investigators videotaped Perez for nearly two hours as he described key elements of what he contends was an unjustified shooting.

According to an internal LAPD review of the shooting, nine officers from the Rampart station descended on the apartment building in response to a report that two gang members were preparing a retaliatory attack for a drive-by shooting the day before in which two fellow gang members were killed.

The officers arrived about 9:40 p.m. and said they found several gang members gathered in front of the building, one of them armed. Under the direction of their supervising sergeant, the officers devised a plan to arrest two armed gang members who were allegedly hiding inside the building, the LAPD report states.

The plan called for the officers to be dispatched in pairs to various floors of the building in hopes of finding and arresting the armed gang members. Other officers would monitor the situation by radio from nearby.

What ensued was a chaotic episode in which one suspect was killed, Peralta was injured and a bystander was shot in the arm.

Four officers fired a total of 10 rounds as they tried to apprehend the suspects, none of whom got off a shot, according to the report. An LAPD review board, then-Chief Willie L. Williams, and ultimately the civilian Police Commission found the shootings to be within policy.

Killed in the shooting was Juan Manuel Saldana, 19, who according to autopsy reports sustained two fatal gunshot wounds--one to the back and one to the chest. Attorneys for Saldana’s mother said they will go to court today to file a federal civil rights lawsuit.

In a jailhouse interview with The Times, Peralta--then known as Jose Perez--said he was unarmed and was shot in the back, contrary to the police report that stated he was shot in the chest.

The bystander wounded by police as he walked down a flight of stairs with his children backed Peralta’s assertion that he was unarmed and not a threat to the officers.

Peralta, who served less than a year in jail under a deal in which he pleaded no contest to an assault charge, is back in jail facing in an unrelated case facing multiple charges of attempted murder.

One source familiar with the investigation said the shooting was “as bad or worse than Ovando,” referring to Javier Francisco Ovando, a young unarmed man who was shot by police, framed and then sentenced to 23 years in prison before being set free.

Perez, the ex-officer whose admissions and allegations are fueling the corruption investigation, has implicated himself and his former partner, Nino Durden, in that shooting, which took place three months after the Shatto Place shooting. Perez said Ovando was unarmed when he and Durden shot him, and that the two officers then planted a gun on him and perjured themselves in court.

Investigators are looking into the possibility that guns were planted in the Shatto Place shooting as well. Both cases involved a Rampart Division sergeant who a police official said was “quarterbacking the whole thing,” encouraging the planting of weapons in shootings gone bad.