DOZENS OF DALLAS POLICE DRUG CASES QUESTIONED

DALLAS, Texas (AP) -- For nearly three months, Jose Luis Vega languished in
jail after police claimed they found a package of drugs at the auto body
shop where he worked.

The 35-year-old Mexican immigrant proclaimed his innocence -- to no avail.
He had been fingered by a confidential informant often used by authorities.

Vega was finally released in November after lab tests indicated the
substance found wasn't cocaine -- but the building material drywall. By
that time, Vega had lost his job and gone into debt.

"It took something from me economically, and a little bit physically," Vega
said through an interpreter Tuesday. "It wasn't fair. I don't think the
system is fair."

Vega isn't alone. In as many as 24 cases in Dallas, lab tests revealed fake
drugs or tiny amounts of the real thing mixed with large amounts of drywall.

Defense lawyers are questioning how many other people may have been wrongly
accused by the paid informant who has not been identified by Dallas police.

Police began re-examining 70 drug buys initiated by the informant and
changed their policy to have seized drugs tested immediately, said
spokeswoman Janice Houston. They also launched an investigation that could
lead to criminal charges.

District Attorney Bill Hill this week suspended prosecution of cases in
which lab tests showed trace amounts or no illegal substance. Hill said the
prosecutor's office will review all cases since 1999 that involve evidence
developed by the informant.

Hill did not return calls Tuesday from The Associated Press.

Police paid informant thousands Police told The Dallas Morning News that
the confidential informant has been paid at least $200,000 since 2000 for
helping police make drug arrests. He was involved in dozens of drug buys,
yielding 35 arrests and large amounts of supposed cocaine and
methamphetamine, officials said.

"I don't know what the police are trying to accomplish," said defense
attorney Brady Wyatt. One of Wyatt's clients sat in jail for more than two
months before his drug-delivery charge was dropped.

Vega's lawyer, Cynthia Barbare, contends that police should have dumped the
informant after the first false test result. "It looks to me that it's
either bad officers, bad informants, or a combination of both," said Barbare.

But Houston said the informant still could be used in the future, and
recent questions will not spell the end of the informant system.

"You're dealing with criminal activity. This is not the type of information
you're going to get from your neighbor or your mom," she said. "The reality
is you have to use them."

Informants 'critical' in police work Randy Garner, associate dean of
criminal justice at the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State
University in Huntsville, said informants are critical to law enforcement.

But he said informants must be checked several times for accuracy before
they're used to make cases. They also must be scrutinized to ensure they
don't have other motives, like ratting out competitors, said Garner, a
former police officer.

The latest cases have mostly involved men with Hispanic surnames who do not
have permanent citizenship, the News said. Court records show that two
people have pleaded guilty in cases where lab tests have raised questions
about the drug seizures.

Houston said all the questionable cases will be reviewed thoroughly.

"We're going to have to see if some of these people actually intended to
sell drugs in a simulated form. There is a law against that," she said. "We
don't want anyone prosecuted if they should not be. The goal is due process."