JUDGE REFUSES TO REINSTATE CHARGES AGAINST EX-OFFICERS

U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas on Tuesday refused to reinstate civil
rights charges against two former Houston police officers involved in
the 1998 shooting death of Pedro Oregon Navarro and chastised
prosecutors for tainted indictments.

Atlas' order, citing a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, said
the U.S. attorney's responsibility is to see that justice is done, not
that cases are won.

"Where the United States does not recognize an ethical duty to forgo
prosecution based on a materially flawed indictment and instead to
seek an untainted indictment, the court must ... dismiss the flawed
indictment," Atlas said in defending her April dismissal of
indictments against Darrell Strouse and James Willis.

Prosecutors could now appeal to the 5th Circuit or renew their grand
jury probe without testimony from Rogelio Oregon Pineda, brother of
Pedro.

Norma Lacy, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Mervyn Mosbacker, said
prosecutors have not decided their next course. Mosbacker was
unavailable for comment.

Chip Lewis, an attorney for Strouse, said he plans to ask Atlas to
dismiss the indictments with prejudice, which means they could not be
refiled.

Strouse and Willis were indicted last year on federal charges of
violating the civil rights of the Oregon brothers by entering their
apartment illegally. Pedro Oregon was killed by police gunfire in a
soured drug raid.

Defense attorneys Lewis and Michael Ramsey maintained that the
indictments were based on Rogelio Oregon's perjured testimony. After
comparing his statements with state and federal grand juries and
investigators, Atlas concluded that the defense attorneys were correct.

Rogelio Oregon was indicted by a Harris County grand jury last month
on two felony aggravated perjury charges and one misdemeanor perjury
charge.

He is accused of giving conflicting statements about his brother's
ownership of a gun, his acquaintance with police informant Ryan Baxter
and conversations with Baxter the night of the shooting.

Police have said a tip from Baxter sent them to the Oregon apartment
in 1998. Officials said police shot Pedro Oregon because they
mistakenly believed that he had fired at them.

A Harris County grand jury indicted only Willis, on a misdemeanor
charge of criminal trespass. He was acquitted.

Defense attorneys have said that federal prosecutors sought the
indictments against Strouse and Willis because of publicity and
pressure from the community and politicians.

Neither officer was involved in the shooting, but they were involved
in planning the entry, federal prosecutors said.

Atlas on Tuesday also took issue with the government's legal
arguments, saying that prosecutors apparently misunderstood or
mischaracterized her prior rulings.

Federal prosecutors had argued that Atlas lacked authority to dismiss
the indictments without a finding of serious prosecutorial misconduct.

Defense attorneys asked to hold an evidentiary hearing and issue a
finding of bad faith, alleging that prosecutors knowingly presented
Rogelio Oregon's perjured testimony to the grand jury.

But Atlas said her decision that Oregon perjured himself on issues
central to the case justified the dismissals -- and anything else is
immaterial.