30 L.A. Officers Called to Testify Before Grand Jury

Thirty Los Angeles police officers have been summoned to testify behind closed doors before the grand jury investigating police crimes connected to the Rampart corruption scandal, law enforcement sources and defense attorneys said Thursday.

The extraordinary volume of witnesses represents a sudden and dramatic acceleration of the district attorney’s probe into what prosecutors believe was a widespread conspiracy of misconduct and criminality inside the LAPD.

To date, at least 30 Los Angeles police officers have been either relieved of duty, suspended or fired or have quit in connection with the unfolding corruption probe. About 70 officers are under investigation on suspicion of committing crimes or knowing about crimes or misconduct and helping to cover up such activity.

On Thursday, 10 officers were called to testify about their knowledge of an April 1996 arrest by officers Brian Liddy and Paul Harper, whom prosecutors are expected to charge next week with perjury and falsifying an arrest report. Four officers testified before the panel, and six more were instructed to return to the grand jury next week, sources said.

District attorney’s sources say the flurry of activity is in response to looming statutory deadlines on some of the alleged crimes already uncovered by the corruption probe. Prosecutors plan to question some of the subpoenaed officers about matters other than Liddy and Harper’s arrest of Allan Lobos, a man who was allegedly framed on a gun possession charge four years ago. That conviction has since been overturned in the wake of the scandal.

While prosecutors are racing against the statutory deadline, they are also pressing forward on a large criminal conspiracy case involving numerous LAPD officers, who they contend were engaged in an organized criminal enterprise aimed at falsely arresting and convicting innocent people, sources said.

Aside from the 10 officers who were called to testify about the Lobos arrest, it was unclear which cases the remaining 20 officers would be asked about. Among those who received subpoenas was Edward Ortiz, a Rampart Division sergeant whom one LAPD official has characterized as “quarterbacking” the cover-up of unjustified shootings and of being a key figure in the unfolding scandal.

On Thursday, officers waited anxiously on the 13th floor of the Los Angeles County Criminal Courts Building for their turn to be grilled by a prosecutor about LAPD corruption.

“It was pretty solemn up there,” said one attorney who represents a Rampart CRASH officer suspended on misconduct charges.

One former CRASH officer said that more than two dozen of his colleagues were summoned to the Rampart station three days ago to receive their subpoenas. The officer, who asked not to be identified, said the recent activity has increased anxiety among suspended officers, who were working the phones Thursday trying to determine whether indictments were imminent in their own cases.

Among the charges prosecutors are pursuing are murder and attempted murder in connection with a pair of allegedly unjustified shootings by Rampart anti-gang CRASH officers in 1996. Rafael Perez, the former CRASH officer-turned-informant at the center of the scandal, has characterized both shootings as “dirty.”

The activity before the county grand jury came as welcome news to city officials who are eager to see corrupt officers brought to justice, and who have been critical of Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti’s pace in the investigation.

Mayor Richard Riordan, in remarks after his annual State of the City address, said he was pleased by reports that Garcetti might soon indict officers in connection with the Rampart scandal.

“I have lightened up on him, as has Chief [Bernard C.] Parks,” the mayor said.

Asked about a report in Thursday’s Times that indictments of two officers could come as early as next week, Riordan replied: “My hat goes off to the district attorney.”

Bringing indictments, Riordan added, “will accelerate everything,” by giving investigators new leverage to force cooperation from officers who have been resisting.

LAPD Cmdr. David J. Kalish said the department was “pleased we’re moving forward to resolving these cases.”

If Liddy and Harper are charged, they will be the first officers to be prosecuted since the corruption scandal broke in September, when Perez began to identify allegedly dirty cops to shave time off his prison sentence for stealing eight pounds of cocaine from LAPD evidence facilities.

“This is terribly stressful stuff,” said Liddy’s attorney, Paul DePasquale.

Down the hallway from where officers were asked about alleged corruption before the grand jury on Thursday, a Superior Court Judge was busy throwing out cases tainted by alleged police misconduct.

Judge Larry P. Fidler dismissed 10 more cases, bringing to 60 the number of convictions overturned in the wake of the scandal.

Perez’s attorney, Winston Kevin McKesson, said the pending indictments and dismissals of dozens of criminal cases vindicate his client, who has been vilified by his former comrades in the LAPD.

“It’s abundantly clear that my client has been forthright,” McKesson said. “In a roundabout way, my guy is doing a public service for this city.”