Tentative $5-Million Pact Reached in Fatal Drug Raid

Los Angeles County and the United States government have tentatively agreed to pay $5 million to the survivors of Donald P. Scott, reclusive heir to a European chemical fortune, who was shot to death when he was surprised by police during a controversial 1992 drug raid that turned up no drugs on his isolated ranch.

Scott’s survivors have long maintained that law enforcement agents conducted the raid primarily because they were hoping to seize the 200-acre ranch, just across the Ventura County line from Malibu. They allege that agents falsified information to obtain a search warrant, hoping to find enough drugs to justify selling the ranch under federal drug asset forfeiture laws that would allow their agencies to keep the profits from such confiscations.

Officials deny those charges, but agreed to settle, they said, because they are not confident that civil jurors would believe what government agents say.

“We have to be realistic in the marketplace of today,” said Dennis Gonzales, principal deputy Los Angeles County counsel, who represents the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the lead agency in the raid.

Gonzales said sheriff’s officials were particularly concerned about fallout from the Rampart scandal at the Los Angeles Police Department. A former LAPD gang officer assigned to Rampart Division says he and colleagues framed and sometimes shot innocent people.

Under the terms of the tentative settlement, outlined Tuesday to U.S. District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian, Los Angeles County will pay $4 million. The United States government will pay $1 million. All suits against the government stemming from the raid will be dropped.

Assistant U.S. Atty. James Sullivan declined to comment on reasons for the settlement, which must be approved by the Interior Department, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. But government lawyers told the court they expect approval within 90 days.

The plaintiffs--Scott’s wife, four children and his estate--will split the proceeds in a formula yet to be determined.

Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., who represents Scott’s wife, Frances, said that his client, who saw her husband killed and later lost her home to a fire, now lives in “a tepee” on the property and is trying to hold off government claims to seize it for unpaid taxes.

Scott, 61, was shot to death by the deputy who led planning for the raid when he emerged sleepy and drunk from his bedroom and allegedly pointed a pistol at the officer.

The shooting was held to be justifiable since Deputy Gary Spencer was in fear for his life. But Spencer’s right to be in Scott’s house was questioned.

Ventura County prosecutor Michael Bradbury--in whose jurisdiction the raid occurred--investigated and concluded that Spencer, a veteran narcotics officer with a clean record, used false information to secure a warrant to search Scott’s ranch for marijuana plants.

“There was no marijuana on that place,” Bradbury said. “Clearly one of the primary purposes was a land grab by the Sheriff’s Department.”

Spencer said he had heard from an informant that 3,000 to 4,000 marijuana plants were growing on Scott’s ranch.

Responding angrily, then-Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block issued a report of his own, defending the agents and condemning Bradbury for grandstanding. Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren backed Block, and Spencer, asserting he had done nothing wrong, sued Bradbury for libel. But his case was thrown out of court.

Times staff writer Daryl Kelley contributed to this report.