MOTHER OF SLAIN INMATE IS SUING

Civil Lawsuit Blames A County Employee For Firing Fatal Shot

The mother of a Santa Clara County jail inmate killed by a bullet that
smashed through the front window of a Mountain View low-security detention
center a year ago filed a federal civil lawsuit Friday accusing a county
employee of firing the fatal shot.

Mountain View police, who for months have said they had no leads in the
case, would not confirm whether the person named in the suit was a suspect.
``We are working on some leads. It's still an open case,'' said Jim
Bennett, a department spokesman, declining to elaborate.

The $20 million suit was filed by Janet Ratcliff of San Jose. Her son,
20-year-old Michael Wallace of San Jose, was shot at the Work Furlough
Center April 25, 2000. Wallace was three days away from release from the
center, where he was serving a sentence for drug charges.

Attorney Anthony Boskovich said he had information that pointed to a
specific person as the killer. The county employee named in the suit is
identified by last name and title, but is not being named by the Mercury
News because that person has not been charged with a crime. The employee
could not be reached for comment Friday.

Cheryl Johnson, a counselor at the center who was working the night of the
shooting, said the suit has some basic facts wrong, including where Wallace
was when the bullet struck him.

The suit also names Santa Clara County, alleging among other things that
the county had lax security at the center. Anne Clarke of the Santa Clara
County Probation Department -- which runs the 250 inmate center -- declined
comment.