$900,000 OKd for Wrongly Jailed Man

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a $900,000 settlement for a man who claims he spent 7 1/2 years in prison on a false drug charge concocted by former Los Angeles Police Officer Rafael Perez.

Although Perez, who pleaded guilty to cocaine theft charges as part of a plea bargain, maintains that the 1992 arrest of Lorenzo Irving was valid, the district attorney’s office believed there was enough evidence that warranted overturning the man’s conviction. As a result, the city attorney’s office crafted the settlement with Irving, who was ordered released from prison in February. The council voted 10 to 1 to accept the settlement.

Based on the length of Irving’s detention, the $900,000 settlement seemed like “a very good deal” for the city, said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office.

Since April, Los Angeles lawmakers have approved spending $2.18 million to settle five Rampart related cases, including Irving’s.

Earlier this week, attorneys’ disclosed that they intend to ask the City Council to ratify a deal that calls for paying $10.9 million to settle 29 federal civil rights lawsuits arising from the police scandal. That package is expected to go to the council next week.

Councilman Joel Wachs was the only city lawmaker to vote against the Irving settlement Tuesday. He said he wanted more evidence that Irving had been falsely accused.

“It was a very murky case,” Wachs said. “If the guy is innocent and served 7 1/2 years in jail, then no amount of money could compensate for it.

“On the other hand, the problem with this is it is one that Perez did not identify as a bad case and in fact said was a clean arrest.”

Councilman Mike Feuer, however, said he believes there was sufficient support to settle the case.

“The analysis of the city attorney and the Police Department led me to conclude that settling the case is the fair thing to do here and the thing that is most likely to protect scarce taxpayer dollars,” Feuer said. “This is someone who was ordered released from prison and who professed his innocence at every possible hearing.

“This is a case that should be settled. It is time for all the parties to reach closure.”

Now, there are 90 other Rampart-related cases and 80 claims pending against the city.