Pubdate: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 Source: Macon Telegraph (GA) Copyright: 2004 The Macon Telegraph Publishing Company Contact: http://www.macontelegraph.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/667 Author: Becky Purser Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO REVIEW MACON COP'S CASE PERRY - The state attorney general's office will appoint a special prosecutor to determine whether charges are warranted against a Macon police officer accused of tipping off a suspect to a pending Perry police drug raid. Russ Willard, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said Monday that the special prosecutor is expected to be appointed in the next few days at the request of Houston County District Attorney Kelly Burke. Burke recused himself and his office from the case, said Willard. Raymond Cross, a former narcotics officer for the Macon Police Department, has been on administrative leave with pay for several months while under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. No formal charges have been filed. Frank Hogue, a Macon attorney representing Cross, said Cross is not guilty. "He absolutely did not ... knowingly or inadvertently interfere in an investigation of another police department," said Hogue. The GBI turned its investigative file over to Burke to determine whether charges are warranted. Burke said Monday his office worked closely with a GBI agent on Cross' case, having asked the GBI to further investigate the charges. Burke said he wanted to avoid the "appearance of impropriety" and asked the state to appoint a special prosecutor. Gary Rothwell, special agent in charge of the GBI Perry office, could not be reached for comment Monday. Willard declined to speculate on who will be appointed to handle the case, but Burke said that he expects Sumter County District Attorney Cecilia Cooper to be appointed special prosecutor. Hogue said Burke is reluctant to prosecute the case because he is unable to prove that Cross did anything wrong. But Burke said if that were true, he would have dropped the case instead of asking for the attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor. Hogue said Burke drafted an indictment against Cross charging in part that Cross violated his oath as a police officer by telling a person - whom Hogue did not name - that she was being investigated by the Perry Police Department. Burke confirmed that he drafted an indictment but declined to discuss the potential charges. Hogue said that although Cross is not guilty of any wrongdoing, Cross had agreed to surrender his police certification for three years in order to avoid being indicted. Hogue said the damage to the officer's reputation would have been hard to overcome had he been indicted. However, when the proposed deal appeared in The Telegraph and on television, the deal was called off because the damage had been done, Hogue said. But Burke said he never agreed not to release the specifics of the deal to the media. Burke said he initially declined comment while the deal was pending. "But once it was finalized, I'd feel obligated to talk about it," Burke said. "The public has a right to know." Should the special prosecutor take Cross' case before a grand jury, Cross would have the right to appear before the grand jury with his attorney to hear the evidence against him and to make a statement to the grand jury, said Hogue. Cooper, the district attorney who Burke expects will be asked to prosecute the case, could not be reached for comment Monday. Brad Pope, director of investigations for the state's Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, said Monday that Cross is the subject of the POST investigation but declined to discuss specifics. Pope said he could not estimate when the investigation would be completed. "While we're conducting a case of where there are other cases being conducted - whether administrative or criminal - we'll wait to the outcome of those cases so we have a complete package to present to the POST Council," said Pope. POST certification is required to be a law enforcement officer in Georgia. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh