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Officers in court in LAPD corruption case

LAPD Officer Paul Harper (left), Sgt. Brian Liddy and Officer Edward Ortiz (not shown) were charged after incriminating testimony by convicted officer Rafael Perez

June 2, 2000
Web posted at: 6:24 p.m. EDT (2224 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- A pre-trial hearing is scheduled Friday in the first criminal case against officers implicated in the Los Angeles police corruption scandal.

Sgts. Edward Ortiz and Brian Liddy and Officer Paul Harper are charged with perjury and filing a false police report. All three pleaded not guilty last month.

The charges stem from the April 1996 arrest of suspected gang member Allan Lobos. The criminal complaint against the three officers charged that Liddy "or an unidentified co-conspirator rubbed the gun in Allan Lobos' fingers," that Ortiz "falsified statements in his sergeant's log" and that Harper "knowingly relied on the false arrest report in preparation for filing the probable cause determination" used to arrest Lobos. Lobos was later convicted of felony gun possession.

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The Los Angeles district attorney asked that the conviction be thrown out in February after learning the case was based on falsified evidence.

Defense attorneys for the three officers believe the charges against their clients are based on the testimony of former Officer Rafael Perez. Perez testified that he and fellow anti-gang units shot people, planted guns and drugs on innocent people and lied about it on the stand.

Perez offered the testimony in exchange for a plea agreement on charges he stole $1 million worth of cocaine from a police evidence locker. He was sentenced in February to five years in prison.

At least 28 other officers have been implicated in the scandal.

To date, 92 criminal and misdemeanor convictions have been overturned because of tainted evidence involving Rafael Perez or other officers implicated in the criminal investigation.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler ordered that Edgar Escobar, 31, be released from state prison. Escobar was arrested November 10, 1996, by Rampart CRASH officers Nino Durden and Michael Buchanan for possession of a firearm by a felon and sentenced to five years in prison on February 13, 1997.

Judge Fidler also set aside the case against Roberto Carcamo Candido, who was arrested September 20, 1997, by Buchanan and Daniel Lujan. Candido pleaded guilty in February 1998 of possession of a firearm by a felon after a jury deadlocked. He was sentenced to 32 months in prison and is being held by immigration authorities.

The district attorney's office did not contest the petitions for writs of habeas corpus filed by attorneys for both men. The writs alleged that the arresting officers framed Escobar and Candido.

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