JUDGE ORDERS RELEASE OF EX-L.A. COP

LOS ANGELES -- The disgraced former officer who broke open one of the
biggest police corruption scandals in Los Angeles history was ordered
released from prison Monday after nearly three years behind bars for
stealing cocaine from an evidence room.

Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry resolved a dispute over how much
credit Officer Rafael Perez, 33, should get for good behavior in prison and
concluded that he had served enough of a five-year sentence.

The judge ordered Perez's release within 24 hours.

"Mr. Perez did cooperate, in the court's view. He did live up to his end of
the bargain," Perry said.

Hours later, Deputy District Attorney William Hodgman sent a letter to the
state's 2nd District Court of Appeal asking for an immediate delay of the
order while prosecutors prepared to appeal Perry's ruling. The request was
denied, District Attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.

California Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Heimerich confirmed
Monday evening that Perez had been released from a county jail on Monday
morning and placed in state custody.

"He will be released on parole pursuant to the judge's order," he said.
"But when and where, I don't know."

Perez was arrested in August 1998 for stealing $1 million worth of cocaine.
He agreed in 1999 to plead guilty and cooperate with investigators in
exchange for leniency. He was sentenced to five years in prison but given
credit for the time he had spent in jail since his arrest.

Perez ignited a scandal after he alleged wrongdoing in the department,
including assaults and frame-ups by the anti-gang unit in which he worked
in the city's tough Rampart area.

More than 100 convictions have been set aside because of his allegations.
The city has also has paid millions to settle dozens of lawsuits.

Three officers were found guilty in a frame-up case, but the convictions
were overturned on the grounds that the jury made mistakes about evidence.

Perez had been serving his sentence at a county lockup instead of state
prison so he could help investigators in the probe. But the county gives
credit at the rate of only one day for every two days in custody. The state
system trims one day off a sentence for each day served.

When it came time to consider his release under terms of his plea bargain,
the district attorney's office, the Sheriff's Department and the state
Corrections Department said Perez had not earned enough credits for release
because he never entered the state system.

The judge said the agencies' position was unfair to Perez, who counted on
being released early for cooperating.