Alleged Perez Boast Cited in Bid for New Trial
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Former Los Angeles Police Officer Rafael Perez bragged to jail informants that he would “make things up” to get revenge against some officers he didn’t like, according to court documents.
In a sworn statement on Nov. 6, informant Henry Rodriguez said he overheard Perez tell another inmate: “Yeah, if somebody [angers me], I’ll just throw their name into a hat, and they will be investigated, innocent or not.”
Rodriguez, a former officer who was jailed at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood with Perez, said he offered to wear a “wire,” but Los Angeles detectives declined his offer. Rodriguez was serving time for driving under the influence.
The affidavits of Rodriguez and two other jailhouse informants were included in a motion filed by attorney Paul DePasquale on behalf of Los Angeles Police Sgt. Brian Liddy, one of three officers convicted in November of framing gang members. DePasquale is seeking either an acquittal or a new trial for his client.
DePasquale claims Liddy did not get a fair trial because authorities failed to quickly turn over the statements of Rodriguez and the two other jailhouse informants, Kenny Boagni and Felipe Sanchez, during the pretrial discovery process.
In the filing, Sanchez and Boagni described similar conversations with Perez.
DePasquale said prosecutors knew about the conversations as early as April but that the defense was not told about them until October.
“We have been forced to the discovery of evidence in October through December of this year because the prosecutors’ investigators neglected their duties in April and May,” DePasquale wrote in his motion.
Perez did not testify at the trial, but he helped launch an ongoing investigation into police corruption in the Rampart Division.
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury convicted Liddy, Sgt. Edward Ortiz and Officer Michael Buchanan on Nov. 15 of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Attorneys for all three officers filed motions this week, seeking new trials. A hearing is set Dec. 21.
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