FINDING ENDANGERS DRUG CASES' PROSECUTION

Prince George's County State's Attorney Jack B. Johnson announced yesterday
that he has ordered a review of 22 pending drug cases because of the
involvement of a county narcotics officer who was found guilty by the
police department of filing a false police report.

Johnson, who said he learned of the guilty finding from a Washington Post
report, said he will drop charges in cases in which evidence generated --
witness testimony or drugs seized -- by Cpl. Carlton Jones is crucial to
the prosecution.

Johnson had said previously he would continue to prosecute cases involving
officers under investigation or indictment for alleged criminal wrongdoing,
unless the officer's veracity was at question. Johnson said yesterday his
office was not notified of the departmental finding against Jones.

Jones, 32, is the officer who in September shot and killed an unarmed man,
Prince C. Jones Jr., in Fairfax County after following him from the Chillum
area of Prince George's, across the District and into a residential
neighborhood near Seven Corners.

Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said in a December
interview that he was aware of the department's finding against Jones when
he decided not to file criminal charges against him in Fairfax. An internal
review by Prince George's police and an FBI investigation of the shooting
continue.

Jones has been assigned to administrative duties and retains his police
powers and weapon.

John A. "Rodney" Bartlett, president of the county police union, said Jones
has told him that he told prosecutors who screen drug cases that he had
been found guilty of filing a false report. "This shouldn't be a surprise
to Jack Johnson," Bartlett said.

Johnson said yesterday that police officials assured him that from now on,
prosecutors would be notified immediately if an officer was found guilty of
misconduct that could affect the officer's credibility.

But in a statement released after Johnson's comment, Prince George's Police
Chief John S. Farrell said only that Johnson's office will send him "formal
recommendations" for such notification in the near future.

"Once we have received [the recommendations], we will review them with the
county's office of law to make sure than any actions we may take are not in
contrary to personnel law," Farrell's statement said.

At least one of the drug cases involving Jones will be dropped today.
Defense attorney Richard A. Finci said Johnson's office notified him
yesterday that felony cocaine distribution charges against one of his
clients would be dropped.

In addition to reviewing the pending cases involving Jones, Johnson said
his office will search its files for all cases in which Jones was involved
after March 29, 1999.

That was when county police officials sustained a finding by a police trial
board that Jones filed a false report regarding an reported gun battle
between two men in Landover on April 21, 1997.

Johnson said he could not ethically credit evidence produced by Jones after
he was found guilty of filing a false police report. He noted that Maryland
law requires prosecutors to notify defense attorneys of possibly
exculpatory evidence -- including a finding that an investigating officer
had been found guilty of filing a false police report.

Johnson said he wasn't sure how many cases that have already been tried
might be affected by the finding against Jones, but said it could be a high
number. "He was a very active officer," the prosecutor said.

County Public Defender Joseph M. Niland said Johnson is "doing the right
thing by going back on all these cases and correcting the problem."

Johnson's announcement is the latest in a series of setbacks for the
county's primary law enforcement agencies.

Last month, a Clinton man charged with theft and with assaulting two police
officers by trying to run them over was quickly acquitted of all counts by
a county jury; a juror said the man, who in his court testimony admitted
stealing wood before he was wounded, was more believable than the officers.

Since September, the state's attorney's office has dropped or lost at least
a half-dozen criminal cases involving witnesses who are county police
officers under indictment or under investigation for alleged excessive force.

The Justice Department is conducting a broad investigation into alleged
misconduct by county police, and two former county police canine officers
are awaiting trial in federal court on charges they set a police dog on an
unresisting homeless man. Last year, civil juries awarded plaintiffs more
than $6 million in cases of brutality and other forms of misconduct by
county police.

Although the issue of Jones's false police report has surfaced at least
twice in court hearings involving his prosecutors since Sept. 22, Johnson
said he didn't learn about it until he read an article about the false
report in The Post on Dec. 26.

He said The Post's report was confirmed to him during a Wednesday meeting
with police officials others than Farrell.