Pubdate: Sat, 14 Oct 2000 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company Contact: 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 Fax: (212) 556-3622 Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/ Author: Don Terry OFFICERS' CORRUPTION TRIAL UNDER WAY IN LOS ANGELES LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13 - The first of what could be dozens of trials of police officers stemming from the worst police corruption scandal in this city's history began today, with a blistering attack by defense lawyers of the state's case and its potential star witness, Rafael Perez. Mr. Perez, a 33-year-old ex-marine who is the former Los Angeles Police Department officer at the heart of a continuing investigation of the city's Rampart police division, is not on trial, nor was he in court today. But his name and record dominated the proceedings, despite the efforts of the prosecution. "This is not a trial of Rafael Perez," the deputy Los Angeles County district attorney, Laura Laesecke, told the jury in her brief opening remarks. "The only people on trial are sitting at the defense table." Prosecutors said it was uncertain whether Mr. Perez, who is in custody after pleading guilty to stealing cocaine from an evidence locker, would even testify in the case. But lawyers for the four defendants spent more than two hours effectively putting Mr. Perez on trial, calling him, among other things, "evil" and "satanic." "Without his lies," said Barry Levin, a defense lawyer, "there is no case against any of these officers." The four defendants - Sergeants Edward Ortiz, 44, and Brian Liddy, 38, and Officers Paul Harper, 33, and Michael Buchanan, 30, - are charged with conspiracy to obstruct or pervert justice. And as with dozens of other officers now under investigation, it was the words of Mr. Perez that first dragged them into the shadows of suspicion. For more than a year, Mr. Perez has been telling investigators about corruption by officers at the Rampart Division, including planting evidence, stealing money and drugs from suspects and lying under oath to send the innocent to prison. About 100 convictions have been overturned since Mr. Perez began talking, and nearly 70 officers are under investigation. Mr. Perez has himself admitted to committing a long list of crimes while in uniform. Indeed, he began talking to authorities in exchange for a lighter prison term after he was caught stealing six pounds of cocaine from an evidence locker. Even as the trial began today in downtown Los Angeles, federal agents were preparing to search a dumpsite in Mexico where a former girlfriend of Mr. Perez said he had buried three people he and a partner had murdered several years ago in Los Angeles. Harland W. Braun, Mr. Buchanan's defense lawyer, told jurors that the prosecution "has actually made a deal with the devil." The defendants were all implicated by Mr. Perez, who worked in the tough Rampart division with them. Rampart, just west of downtown Los Angeles, is home to dozens of street gangs and the social problems that help them thrive. The charges against the defendants stem from a trio of arrests in 1996; they are accused of planting evidence and giving false testimony. "The case you are about to hear," Ms. Laesecke, the prosecutor, told the jurors, "is about four men who took the law into their own hands." She said they falsified evidence and lied in court. They are also accused of planting a gun on a gang member. "They agreed," she said, "to hide the truth." Ms. Laesecke's opening remarks lasted less than 15 minutes. The defense took more than two hours to lay out its case, using charts and enlarged photographs, but all the time returning to Rafael Perez. "Mr. Perez is a glib person," said Joel Isaacson, Mr. Harper's defense lawyer. "He has a good line and he's a good-looking guy. But with any luck, he is the most evil person you will ever lay eyes on." Before the start of the trial, the presiding judge, Jacqueline A. Connor, weakened the prosecution's case by excluding the testimony of about two dozen witnesses. The scandal could end up costing the city hundreds of millions of dollars in civil lawsuits. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled earlier that the department could be sued using the government's anti-racketeering statute, which was created to deal with organized-crime figures. Besides allowing one of the largest police departments in the United States to be regarded as a criminal enterprise, the decision increases the city's potential liability, since the law permits a longer statute of limitations and could triple the damage awards. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens