LAPD Asks D.A. to Prosecute 3 Officers in Probe

Los Angeles Police Department officials have asked Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti to file criminal charges against three officers suspected of crimes ranging from assault under color of authority to perjury in connection with the ongoing Rampart corruption probe, sources said Friday.

Detectives on a special corruption task force have presented prosecutors with their cases against officers Nino Durden, Brian Hewitt and Michael Buchanan, a source familiar with the investigation said.

“We believe there is sufficient evidence for criminal filing,” said Cmdr. David J. Kalish, the department’s spokesman. “We are anxious to pursue prosecution.”

The criminal charges would be the first to grow out of the scandal since former officer-turned-informant Rafael Perez began cooperating with authorities and implicating fellow officers in wrongdoing.

“We want this case to move forward as soon as possible,” said Kalish, who declined to identify the officers. “However, the district attorney has the difficult task of methodically reviewing the cases.”

Gerald L. Chaleff, president of the civilian Police Commission, hailed the department’s decision to request criminal prosecutions.

“If police officers abuse their authority and violate the public trust, they should be vigorously prosecuted and, if convicted, severely punished,” he said. “I expect the district attorney to evaluate these cases and to proceed as aggressively as the facts warrant. In addition, those of us with oversight responsibility for the department will continue to ensure that the root causes of this tragic situation are attacked.”

District attorney officials declined to comment on Police Department disclosures about the probe.

“I’m very surprised to hear that,” head Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Murphy said of the LAPD’s public confirmation that cases have been forwarded to the district attorney for prosecution. Murphy, who heads the prosecution’s task force on Rampart, said his office has “a very close working relationship with the LAPD.”

Although the front-line detectives and prosecutors have a good working relationship, tensions are running high among top officials in both agencies. While LAPD officials wish to see the Rampart cases prosecuted as quickly as possible, officials in the district attorney’s office remain concerned about going before juries with cases built around the testimony of Perez, an admitted perjurer and drug thief.

“They’re dragging their feet,” one top LAPD official said of the district attorney’s office.

The three officers all once worked in the same anti-gang CRASH unit as Perez. In addition to perjury and assault, police officials believe charges of obstruction of justice and evidence planting should be filed against one or more of the officers. The LAPD’s request for charges against at least one of the officers has been pending for weeks.

Durden, Perez’s former partner, is likely to face the most serious charges of the three officers. Perez, who is cooperating with investigators in a bid to shave time off his own sentence for stealing eight pounds of cocaine from LAPD facilities, has implicated himself and Durden in the shooting of an unarmed man.

Perez told detectives that he and Durden planted a gun on 19-year-old Javier Francisco Ovando to cover their tracks. Perez said the former partners then perjured themselves in court, saying Ovando had attacked them.

Ovando, who was left paralyzed by the shooting, was sentenced to 23 years in prison. He was released in September in the wake of Perez’s admission and has filed a lawsuit against the city.

Perez also alleged that Durden planted evidence in several cases that resulted in criminal convictions. Some of those convictions have been overturned as a result of Perez’s statements.

Darryl Mounger, a former police officer and Durden’s attorney, declined comment on the substance of the potential charges.

“So, the D.A.’s got them,” Mounger said. “Let’s wait and see what he does with them.”

Hewitt was fired last year in connection with the 1998 beating of a suspect in one of the Rampart stations.

Despite the urging of police officials, prosecutors twice declined to file charges against the strapping anti-gang officer, who was well known on the streets west of downtown for his aggressive tactics. In both instances, prosecutors felt the evidence submitted by the LAPD was insufficient to proceed against the officer.

It is unclear specifically what charges Hewitt now may face. One source said the department still is pressing for charges in that case while investigators scrutinize Hewitt’s alleged involvement in other misconduct.

Hewitt’s attorney could not reach for comment Friday evening.

Buchanan was relieved of duty in October in connection with an allegedly trumped-up weapons case he made with Perez. He also is accused of planting drugs on a gang member in 1998 and committing perjury to help send the man to prison.

“Who do you think they are going to believe, are they going to believe you or me?” the gang member, Walter Rivas, quoted Buchanan as saying when Rivas was interviewed by task force detectives in prison in November.

Attorney James E. Trott, who represents Buchanan, said he was surprised by the development and has “no clue” as to what the police think they have against his client.

“We haven’t been contacted or interviewed,” he said.

“The police obviously don’t want to tip their hand as to what they are doing.”

He, like other attorneys, questioned the credibility of Perez, whose admissions and allegations are fueling the investigation.

“I have to assume they have more than Perez on anything they bring to the D.A.”

The LAPD’s criminal probe has so far uncovered alleged unjustified shootings, beatings, drug dealing, evidence planting, false arrests, witness intimidation and perjury.

To date, 20 officers have resigned or been relieved of duty, suspended without pay or fired in connection with the scandal. In addition, 11 criminal convictions have been overturned and four inmates have been released from prison or jail as result of tainted testimony by allegedly crooked officers.