FORMER LAPD OFFICER RAFAEL PEREZ MAY BE RELEASED FROM JAIL

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Disgraced former Rampart police officer Rafael Perez
could be a free man as early as Thursday, a spokeswoman for the district
attorney's office said.

A hearing is planned before Superior Court Judge Robert Perry to determine
when Perez should be released from jail.

"He may be released tomorrow," spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said Wednesday.

Perez's attorney Winston Kevin McKesson said that he plans to ask for the
immediate release of his client.

"It is our position that continued incarceration is a violation of his
civil rights," he said.

Perez ignited the Los Angeles police scandal in 1999 when he told
investigators he and other officers beat, framed and robbed people in rough
neighborhoods west of downtown.

He began talking to detectives in exchange for a more lenient sentence
after he pleaded guilty to stealing $1 million worth of cocaine from an
evidence room.

In February 2000, he was given a five-year sentence for the theft. He was
granted more than two years of credit for time served before his sentencing.

Last month, Perry refused to decide the issue of how much more time Perez
should spend behind bars.

He also refused to order the state Department of Corrections to give Perez
more credit for time served than it normally would, saying he did not have
that authority.

The "appropriate avenue for relief" is an administrative hearing by the
department, the judge had said.

However, McKesson said Perry now has authority because they have exhausted
all other alternatives.

"The Department of Corrections has said that there is nothing else they can
do. Our only regress is with the courts," McKesson said.

But nobody knows when, exactly, Perez should be released.

The confusion stems from the fact that Perez was sentenced to state prison,
where he was eligible to receive a "day-for-day" credit. But he was placed
in local custody so that he could help in the ongoing police corruption
probe. County jail credit is one day for every two days served.

The issue of credit was not mentioned in a plea bargain that granted Perez
immunity from local prosecution.