BINI GETS PROBATION FOR FATAL RAID

Dec. 2, 2000 - A police officer was sentenced to 12 months probation
Friday for his role in a faulty search warrant that led to the fatal
shooting of Mexican immigrant Ismael Mena, one of the most
controversial episodes in recent Denver history.

Joseph Bini, who had pleaded guilty to first-degree official
misconduct, was also ordered to do 150 hours of community service and
pay unspecified court costs.

Bini stood before District Judge Shelley Gilman and gave a tearful
plea for mercy, apologizing to the court, the Police Department, his
family and the community.

Gilman cited Bini's remorse and positive role in the community before
saying the officer would not go to jail but would be placed on
probation. Prosecutor Charles Tingle said he was pleased with the
sentence and that he never wanted Bini to go to jail.

Mena, 45, a father of nine who was living at 3738 High St., was shot
to death by SWAT officers as they burst into his house without
knocking on Sept. 29, 1999. Police said Mena pulled a gun on the officers.

The wrong address was listed on a search warrant affidavit filled out
by police officers under Bini's supervision. Bini had signed the
application for the warrant.

Hispanic activists were furious with the sentence.

"If Bini gets his job back, we're going after (Manager of Safety) Ari
Zavaras," said Mary Miera of the Justice for Mena Committee. "This is
a slap in the face to our community."

LeRoy Lemos, spokesman for the committee, said: "His lawyer told the
court Bini merely made a mistake. The jails are full of people who
merely made a mistake.

"To say that a loss of life and dereliction of duty is a simple
mistake is outrageous," he said. The city settled with Mena's family
in March for $400,000.

Zavaras said Bini now faces the department's disciplinary
process.

"I've already spoken to Chief (Gerry) Whitman," he said. "The charge
was changed substantially, so we will have to look at the entire case.
He is subject to every discipline option we have." Bini has been
suspended without pay since the incident.

David Bruno, Bini's lawyer, gave Gilman a detailed explanation of how
an incredible set of circumstances came together to create a tragic
blunder. The key mistake - a wrong address on a search warrant for the
SWAT team - happened while Bini was training new police officers on
narcotics enforcement on Sept. 21, eight days before the fatal raid,
Bruno said. Showing the trainees how to make controlled buys of crack
cocaine, Bini took them and an informant named Joe to East 38th Avenue
and Humboldt Street, gave Joe $20 and told him to buy crack.

Joe, who was not wearing a wire, rode his bicycle out of the officers'
view and bought some crack in the alley between High and Williams
streets, between 37th and 38th avenues.

After buying the narcotics, he got on his bicycle and rode south down
the alley, counting the houses, Bruno said. Then he rode to High
Street and pedaled north, counting the houses again.

"He gave police the address of 3738 High, when it should have been the
house next door, 3742 High St., where the crack dealer came out of,"
Bruno said. "He counted the houses wrong.

"The informant didn't know his mistake until the police took him back
there during the investigation of the shooting," he said.

Bruno said the police had used Joe before and found him to be very
reliable. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration used him, too, he
said.

Back at the District 2 office after Joe bought the crack, Bini showed
his trainees how to write out an affidavit in support of a search
warrant. He called up an old affidavit on the computer to use as a
template for a new search warrant for the High Street house.

"Bini did not participate in the preparation of the affidavit," Bruno
said. "He reviewed it on the computer screen and made a few changes."

Officer Reyes Trujillo, who had never worked with an informant or
written an affidavit, wrote the first draft, Bruno said. That got
lost, so Trujillo wrote a second draft, and "then a number of fingers
got into the pie," Bruno said.

At least two different officers made changes to the affidavit without
Bini's knowledge, one altering "rod iron" to "wrought iron," Bruno
said. In the end, Bruno said, Bini signed a printed affidavit that was
different from the one he had approved on the computer screen.

"In hindsight, more training would have prevented this mistake," Bruno
said. "This was a mistake of the head rather than the heart."

Tingle told the judge, "We are left with one simple, undeniable fact -
that officer Joe Bini swore to an affidavit that had numerous
inaccuracies and numerous misstatements."

Bini initially was charged with two felonies including perjury, which
requires proof that false statements were made knowingly.

After the draft affidavits were discovered, along with the mistake of
the informant, prosecutors dropped the charge to a misdemeanor of
official misconduct. Bini pleaded guilty Oct. 5 to first-degree
official misconduct.