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Jury delivers mixed verdict in LAPD corruption trial

Michael Buchanan, top to bottom, Brian Liddy and Edward Ortiz were found guilty of conspiracy

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A jury delivered a mixed verdict Wednesday in the trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of corruption.

Sgts. Edward Ortiz and Brian Liddy and Officer Michael Buchanan were found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the first trial stemming from a probe into widespread corruption in the department. Officer Paul Harper was cleared of all charges.

Ortiz and Liddy were found guilty of filing a false police report.

Buchanan was found guilty of two counts of perjury.

The guilty verdicts stemmed from assault charges related to the July 1996 arrests of two gang members.

Ortiz, Liddy, Buchanan and Harper were all found not guilty of conspiracy charges resulting from an alleged gun-planting incident in April 1996.

Ortiz, Liddy and Harper were found not guilty of filing a false police report and of perjury charges related to the April 1996 incident.

The maximum prison term for Buchanan is eight years on perjury charges. Ortiz and Liddy face a maximum of three years on false arrest convictions.

It was unclear what the prison term could be for the conspiracy convictions. Sentencing is scheduled for January 16, 2001.

Prosecutors based their case against the four officers primarily on testimony from former officer-turned-informant Rafael Perez, who is serving a reduced jail sentence as part of a plea agreement for stealing cocaine from a police evidence locker.

Perez claimed the officers routinely planted evidence, fabricated arrest reports and shot unarmed civilians.

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He served with the officers in the LAPD's now-disbanded anti-gang unit, known as CRASH.

Part of Perez's plea agreement included limited immunity for all crimes, except murder, he participated in or witnessed.

Since the probe was launched in September 1999, 70 officers have been investigated and more than 100 convictions have been overturned.

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Independent Analysis of the Los Angeles Police Department's Board of Inquiry Report on the Rampart Scandal

American Civil Liberties Union
Pittsburgh Police Bureau
Los Angeles Police Department Web site
Justice Department Civil Rights Division
Los Angeles County District Attorney
U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California
Federal Bureau of Investigation

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