MORE LAPD CASES DISMISSED

Courts: Six Overturned Convictions From Rampart Probe Bring Total To 46

LOS ANGELES - A judge threw out six more criminal convictions Thursday
as part of an ongoing probe into corruption in a Police Department
anti-gang unit.

The dismissals brought to 46 the number of convictions overturned in a
scandal that has shaken the police force of the nation's
second-largest city.

Superior Court Judge Larry P.Fidler quickly dismissed the six cases at
the request of the district attorney's office, which said the
convictions were obtained by falsifying evidence, committing perjury
and employing other illegal practices.

After Fidler announced the ruling, one of the six defendants, Charles
Edward Harris Sr., broke into a grin.

"The whole thing was a setup," Harris said outside
court.

The scandal - one of the worst in the department's history - erupted
in the Rampart area near downtown last year when former officer Rafael
Perez turned informant after he was caught stealing 8 pounds of
cocaine from a police evidence room.

Since then, he has given investigators a litany of wrongdoing in the
Rampart station's anti-gang unit, saying fellow officers repeatedly
falsified evidence, framed innocent people and lied under oath to win
convictions.

At least 29 officers have been relieved of duty.

Perez helped make the arrests in all six cases overturned
Thursday

Harris, 42, a construction worker from South Central Los Angeles, said
Perez planted drugs and guns in his car after pulling him over in
1997.

Harris pleaded guilty and served 19 months in prison for possession of
cocaine base for sale. He was released last October.

Authorities now say officers attributed statements to Harris that he
did not make and illegally searched his vehicle.

Harris said that he harbors no ill feelings toward Perez and the
Police Department and was simply thrilled to have his name cleared.

"I can't grudge a grudge," he said.

But his attorney, Errol Stambler, said he will sue the police for
violating Harris' civil rights.

The other five overturned cases involved two men and three juveniles
convicted of drug and weapons charges. Both men served two years in
prison, while the juveniles served time in youth rehabilitation camps.