CHARGES DROPPED, OFFICER HOPES TO REGAIN JOB

A Baltimore police officer who was snagged in a sting by his own department
but escaped prosecution when evidence against him was tampered with
proclaimed his innocence yesterday and his hopes of returning to work.

"Absolutely, I am innocent," said Brian Sewell, 31, a six-year veteran of
the city's police force who has been on suspension with pay. "I did not do
what they said I did."

In September, Baltimore police announced that Sewell had been caught in
what's known as a random integrity sting: Officers placed a bag of what
looked like drugs on a park bench and waited to see what fellow officers
would do. Authorities said Sewell picked up the bag, arrested a suspect two
blocks away and said in a police report that he saw the suspect place the
bag on the bench.

Sewell faced charges of perjury and misconduct until Wednesday, when
State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy announced that she had no choice but
to drop the case because of a break-in at the police Integrity Unit
headquarters -- a location secret even to top police commanders and
protected by fences, locks and a burglar alarm.

Files relating to Sewell's case were among those tampered with, Jessamy
said, and two officers within the unit fared poorly when questioned about
the crime in a polygraph, casting suspicion on them. Also, police had not
given the prosecutor all photographs taken on the day of the sting, a fact
the defense seized upon, she said.

Jessamy did say in a statement, though, that "this office believes that
Officer Sewell committed the crimes" with which he was charged.

The police department still plans to pursue internal misconduct charges
against Sewell and use testimony by the officers who conducted the sting,
said Sean Malone, the department's chief legal counsel.

"We're disappointed that it's not going forward in the criminal venue,"
Malone said. "Every criminal case has inherent flaws, and we're confident
[the prosecutor] could have overcome them. I think it's a solid case. But
we respect [Jessamy's] decision."

Sewell's case marked the department's first arrest in an integrity sting,
which Commissioner Edward T. Norris began after citizens complained to him
of abuses. The dropped charges leave police and prosecutors questioning the
handling of the case and raise doubts about the Integrity Unit itself.

Yesterday, Sewell, surrounded by three attorneys, would not elaborate on
his claim of innocence, but he did say that the state's attorney's office
"played by . . . a separate set of rules" in its handling of the case.

Attorney Henry L. Belsky said the prosecutor failed to turn over
photographs of the sting and tapes of police calls that he says would have
exonerated his client. "If you have a great case, you put the facts out on
the table," he said.

Jessamy did not respond to two phone messages left yesterday.

Malone called Belsky's accusations "red herrings," noting that the alleged
missing evidence consisted of such things as photographs of an empty park
bench.

"That's smoke that defense attorneys like Mr. Belsky are paid to raise," he
said.