Pubdate: Sun, 17 Mar 2002
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2002, The Detroit News
Contact:  http://detnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Susan Parrott, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)

BOTCHED DRUG CASES ROCK DALLAS

DALLAS -- The cases unfolded, and unraveled, one by one: drug bust after 
drug bust in which investigators later found little or no drugs in the 
evidence that was seized.

The FBI is examining the role of Dallas police and prosecutors in about 70 
drug cases, involving more than 40 defendants, dismissed in recent months 
after lab tests revealed fake drugs or tiny amounts of the real thing mixed 
with large amounts of gypsum.

Whether it's a case of corruption or a massive system failure remains to be 
seen. But the botched cases have spilled over into the race for district 
attorney and angered the newly elected mayor. Some victims have threatened 
civil rights lawsuits and Hispanic advocacy groups are calling for the 
resignations of the district attorney, city manager and police chief.

"It's the worst law enforcement scandal I've heard of in the Northern 
District of Texas in the 20 years I've practiced here," said Paul Coggins, 
a former U.S. attorney.

The scandal began unfolding last fall, when prosecutors notified Dallas 
police of evidence tests showing little or no illegal drugs. But defense 
attorneys say they had beseeched District Attorney Bill Hill to look into 
the cases long before that.

Hill defends his office, saying his prosecutors were first to discover the 
problem and send the evidence for lab tests. He said his staff found a 
pattern in some of the cases in early November and within two weeks halted 
all prosecutions involving two police officers and their informant, even 
though some of those cases may have been valid.

The Police Department placed the two narcotics detectives on administrative 
leave.

Police Chief Terrell Bolton has declined requests for interviews with the 
Associated Press. The FBI also declined to give details, citing its 
investigation.

Glenn White, president of the Dallas Police Association, defended his 
suspended colleagues.

"They went out and did their job and they happened to have an informant 
that is unreliable," White said. "The informant realized if he delivered 
large amounts, he'd get more money."

Critics say police and county officials had several clues that the busts 
weren't legitimate. They question why Hill's office had not ordered lab 
tests before indicting defendants based on uncorroborated field tests by 
the arresting officers.

"How did these field tests, if they were actually run, mistake gypsum for 
cocaine?" Coggins asked.

White said most district attorneys and federal agents in Texas require lab 
tests before indicting suspects in large drug busts. Field tests are 
notoriously unreliable; something as innocuous as aspirin can test positive 
as cocaine, he said.

"This is not a corruption case," White said. "It's a system failed."

Dallas County's policy had been to hold off on more conclusive lab tests 
until trial. In some cases, defendants pleaded guilty to lesser charges and 
were jailed or deported. The new policy calls for lab tests before 
indicting suspects.

Former Dallas County prosecutor Robert Montserrat blamed lack of 
supervision in the Police Department and poor communication in the 
overworked district attorney's office. Because the growing drug caseload is 
spread among several prosecutors, a pattern of inconsistency is harder to 
spot, he said.

"The cops are not watching each other," Montserrat said. "The DA's office 
is not watching the cops."

Tarrant County District Attorney Tim Curry said his office has always 
required a lab test before proceeding with an indictment.

Bob Baskett, the attorney for Senior Cpl. Mark Delapaz, one of the 
narcotics officers, said his client did not conduct the initial field tests 
and didn't know the drugs were fake. He said drug dealers may have set up 
the informant, who was paid up to $200,000 by police.

The informant, Jose Guadalupe Ruiz, 33, is jailed without bond for 
returning to Texas after he was deported in February on old charges of 
failing to appear at a 1999 hearing on a weapons violation.

Several Latino advocacy groups have demanded the resignations of Hill, 
Bolton and City Manager Ted Benavides because many of the defendants were 
Mexican nationals.

"We think justice has died in Dallas," said Alfredo Castaneda, president of 
Mexicanos Unidos.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager