Pubdate: Sun, 25 Nov 2007
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2007 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Matt Viser

US JUDGE DISMISSES CHARGES IN DRUG CASE

Raps Boston Officer, Sloppy Prosecution

A federal judge has dismissed charges against an  alleged drug dealer,
citing fabricated statements made  in court by a Boston patrol officer
and slow, sloppy  work by federal prosecutors.

Earl Dessesaure, who was arrested and charged with drug  dealing in
February 2003, should be released from jail,  and no further charges
can be pursued in the case,  according to a ruling handed down Friday.

In her harshly worded decision, US District Judge Nancy  Gertner
upbraided Boston police for conducting a  warrantless search of
Dessesaure's apartment, which  prohibited most of the evidence from
being used in  court.

In addition, court records show that Boston police  Officer John
Broderick Jr. lied in court, discarded  notes that could have
contradicted his testimony, and  relied on information from unreliable
informants.

"This is a deeply flawed prosecution - from the Boston  police officer
who lied in court, to the prosecutor who  justified a blatantly
illegal search," Gertner wrote.  "To allow this prosecution to
continue would not  advance the administration of justice; it would
undermine it."

Police investigators conducted a review in 2005 of  Broderick's
actions and determined that challenges to  his credibility were unfounded.

Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis defended the  officer yesterday.
"We in the Boston Police Department  back Officer Broderick and the
work that was done on  this case," he said in a phone interview.

"We will continue as a Police Department to  aggressively pursue
people dealing heroin in the city,"  he added. "We certainly respect
the court, and the  court's decision, and we'll move forward."

Attempts yesterday to reach the federal prosecutor in  the case, US
Attorney Robert E. Richardson, were  unsuccessful, and a spokeswoman
for the department  declined to comment.

Dessesaure's lawyer, Steven L. Winniman, said  yesterday, that "this
was a blatantly illegal search. .  . .

"When the people that are charged with upholding the  law commit
perjury, it seems to me the whole justice  system falls apart."

In February 2003, Quincy and Boston police began  monitoring
Dessesaure's apartment in Quincy and trips  he made in his Cadillac
Escalade, according to court  records. They found white powder in
garbage bags that  he threw in a dumpster near apartment that they did
not  test but believed to be heroin, the records said.

The officers suspected he was dealing drugs, and on  Feb. 24, they
followed him and witnessed what they  believed to be a drug deal.
After arresting Dessesaure,  the records said officers discovered six
plastic bags  of heroin in his rectum.

The officers then used Dessesaure's keys to enter his  apartment, but
without a search warrant. They found  more powder believed to be
heroin, a gun, and drug  distribution paraphernalia, court records
said. Only  after discovering the evidence did Broderick apply for,
and receive, a warrant to search the home.

"The rationale was, in a word, absurd," Gertner wrote.  "The officers
illegally searched the house and then  called back to the district
attorney's office with the  evidence they found in order that it may
be included in  the warrant application."

Gertner also said that Broderick "contrived" a story  that Dessesaure
yelled as he was being arrested to a  gathering crowd, "call my
peeps," which Broderick said  meant he was signaling someone to
destroy evidence in  his apartment. But Broderick was not at the
scene, and  his account was not confirmed by an officer who was at
the scene, according to court records.

Dessesaure challenged the use of evidence from his  apartment, and
Gertner ruled in April 2004 there was  enough evidence to search him
and his car, but not his  home. Federal prosecutors successfully
challenged that  decision to the US Court of Appeals, which ruled that
  the apartment evidence could be used. But with no  action after that,
Gertner determined that there had  been a violation of the Speedy
Trial Act, which sets a  time limit a defendant can be held without
trial.

She could have dismissed the case through a process  that allowed
prosecutors to refile, but instead she  filed an unusual decision to
dismiss the case with  prejudice, which means that no further charges
can be  filed related to the case.

Dessesaure, who had been convicted in Suffolk County  Superior Court
for a 1986 armed robbery and assault,  has been held in the current
case without bail for more  than four years. He will probably remain
in jail  awaiting appeals from federal prosecutors.

This is the second time that he has been freed after  improper
investigations by Boston police. In April  1998, Suffolk Superior
Court Judge Patrick J. King  threw out evidence against Dessesaure
after concluding  that Boston Detective Michael Feeney had concocted a
  story about an informant. The judge barred prosecutors  from
introducing as evidence 19 bags of crack cocaine  seized from
Dessesaure's car. The case never moved  forward in Superior Court.
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