Perez Given 2-Year Term in Federal Case

Former Los Angeles police officer Rafael Perez was sentenced to two years in federal prison Monday for violating the civil rights of an unarmed gang member who was shot by Perez and his partner and then convicted on trumped-up charges.

U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder also placed Perez on three years’ probation after his release and ordered him to pay $246,392 restitution.

But the judge rejected a defense request that she recommend his assignment to a military-style boot camp for first-time offenders. Assistant U.S. Atty. Mary Carter Andrues said such a recommendation would be “inappropriate” under the circumstances.

Perez, who sparked the Rampart police corruption investigation in 1999 after he was arrested for stealing cocaine from police evidence lockers, declined an invitation to address the judge.

His lawyer, Winston K. McKesson, said outside the courthouse that his client “is happy to be putting all this behind him.”

Prosecutor Andrues said: “It is important for the people of Los Angeles and the justice system that Rafael Perez has finally been held accountable for his civil rights violations.”

In a plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors last December, the former Rampart anti-gang officer admitted that he and his former partner, Nino Durden, conspired to fabricate evidence and testimony against Javier Francisco Ovando.

Ovando, an 18-year-old gang member, was shot in the head, shoulder and hip on Oct. 12, 1996, when he walked into a vacant apartment west of downtown where Perez and Durden were conducting surveillance.

After realizing that Ovando was unarmed, the two officers planted a short-barreled rifle beside him, claiming they fired in self-defense.

Ovando, who was left partially paralyzed from the shooting, was subsequently tried, convicted and sentenced to more than 23 years in state prison.

The frame-up remained undetected until Perez was arrested for stealing cocaine from LAPD evidence lockers.

In a bid for leniency from the district attorney’s office, he disclosed his and Durden’s role in the Ovando shooting. He also implicated about 70 other Rampart officers in what he said was a pattern of misconduct involving beatings, shootings and false arrests.

As a result of his allegations, more than 100 criminal convictions, including Ovando’s, were overturned.

Ovando received a $15-million settlement from the city.

More than a dozen LAPD officers resigned or were fired over corruption-related allegations.

Perez was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing cocaine, but he was granted immunity from state prosecution for framing Ovando. He served about three years of the state prison term before being released last year.

The deal did not protect him from federal prosecution, however. Faced with a possible 15-year prison term on federal charges, Perez negotiated a plea agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office last December.

He admitted conspiring to violate Ovando’s civil rights “by fabricating evidence, falsely arresting and presenting false testimony against him.” He also acknowledged possessing a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle with obliterated serial numbers that he planted beside the wounded Ovando.

In exchange for a lighter sentence, Perez agreed to cooperate in an ongoing federal probe of possible civil rights violations by LAPD officers.

The deal called for him to serve another two years behind bars. However, each side retained the right to back out if the judge departed from the proposed two-year term.

Perez was to have been sentenced in March, but the proceedings were delayed when a dispute unexpectedly arose between the U.S. attorney’s office and the federal probation office, which advises judges on sentencing. The probation office recommended a 30- to 37-month sentence because of Perez’s prior conviction and because he lied during Ovando’s criminal trial.

Snyder indicated at the time that she was inclined to side with the probation office. To resolve the matter, she asked defense and prosecution lawyers to file further written arguments under seal.

On Monday, the judge said she had decided to impose a two-year sentence. “I do so,” she said, “because the government urges that accepting the agreement would be in the interest of justice.”

Snyder said the restitution payments will be used to cover the costs of having tried Ovando in Los Angeles Superior Court and housing him in county jail and state prison.

Perez, who remains free on bail, was given 30 days to surrender to authorities, but the judge said she would consider an extension because he has been caring for his ailing mother, who lives in another part of the country.

Durden, his former partner, pleaded guilty last year to violating the federal civil rights of Ovando and two other persons. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Snyder on May 20.