PROSECUTORS KNEW ABOUT, FAILED TO DISCLOSE PERJURY

Man Appealing 2000 Plea Deal; Deputy Lied As Witness In Drug Case

More than one prosecutor in the district attorney's office knew that a
Dallas County sheriff's deputy had lied as a witness in a felony drug
case and failed to disclose that to the accused man's attorney before
a plea bargain was offered, according to court documents and some
close to the case.

Officials in the district attorney's office have previously
acknowledged some blame in the handling of Antonio Torres' February
2000 drug charge. District Attorney Bill Hill said this week that the
ethical lapse was committed solely by a former drug court prosecutor
now in private practice who did not realize she had withheld important
information until months after the man was sentenced.

But according to a Tarrant County prosecutor familiar with the
allegations and an affidavit written by a Dallas County court
investigator, at least one supervisor in the district attorney's
office was aware of the deputy's perjured testimony and did not alert
the man's attorney before the reduced plea bargain deal was offered.

District attorney investigator William J. Hughes states in an
affidavit that he alerted Assistant District Attorney Gregg Long about
the deputy's erroneous testimony months before the plea bargain was
offered. Mr. Long was a chief prosecutor in the drug courts at the
time.

Prosecutors are required by law to turn over information about
witnesses in a trial that can be helpful to the defendant. Although
the rule does not technically apply in plea bargains in which a
defendant pleads guilty and avoids a trial, Mr. Hill said his
prosecutors should always turn over such information in cases such as
Mr. Torres'.

"We felt like it was a matter of just being fair and equitable," he
said.

Mr. Hughes declined to comment on the affidavit or the case. Mr. Long
also declined to comment.

Affidavit drafted in '02

According to the document, Mr. Hughes drafted the affidavit in June
2002 and submitted it to FBI agents because of concerns that some of
the same officials who were involved in the allegations were taking
part in an internal investigation of the Dallas police fake-drug
scandal."I believe police officers were knowingly allowed to falsify
reports and to lie when testifying under oath," the document states.

Tarrant County felony prosecutor Mike Parrish said last week that he
also talked to the FBI in March 2002 about the way the Torres case was
handled. Mr. Parrish said he alerted special prosecutor Dan Hagood
about the matter recently. Mr. Hagood is investigating possible
criminal wrongdoing stemming from the fake-drug scandal.

Mr. Hill said that he opened his office to FBI investigators and that
Mr. Long and prosecutor Marquite Washington each met with agents and
cooperated. No charges resulted, he said. Mr. Hill also said Mr.
Hagood has no limits on the focus of his investigation of the
fake-drug scandal and has spoken with prosecutors in his office.

"Every person in this office was made available for questioning,
interviews or grand jury testimony," he said. "They had full access to
our office."

The allegations stem from the 1999 arrest of 32-year-old Mr. Torres by
former Dallas County Sheriff's Department Deputy Romeo Rodriguez. The
deputy said in police reports and in testimony that he stopped the car
Mr. Torres was riding in because Mr. Torres' wife had committed a
minor traffic violation. Officers searched his car and in the trunk
found a pound of heroin in a potato chip bag.

Mr. Torres was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and
three outstanding arrest warrants on unrelated drug charges.

In fact, Deputy Rodriguez was participating in a federal drug task
force that had been targeting Mr. Torres. The officer concocted the
story about a traffic stop because he did not want to reveal the
identity of a federal confidential informant who was working with the
task force, according to court documents.

According to the affidavit, Mr. Hughes spoke with prosecutors about
his concerns, but no one informed Mr. Torres' attorney about problems
with the lone witness in his case.

Mr. Long does not remember anyone discussing the case's problems with
him, Mr. Hill said.

Handwritten notes in the Torres case file also reveal that Ms.
Washington was aware that the deputy's account of the arrest was not
accurate. The file contains a notation by her that she needs to
discuss her "concerns" with Mr. Long or another division supervisor,
prosecutor George West. The undated note does not say whether those
discussions occurred.

In February 2000, Mr. Torres accepted a reduced plea bargain of 10
years in prison for the drug charge, outstanding felony warrants and
probation violation.

Public defender Jennifer Balido appealed the plea deal in October 2002
after learning that the district attorney's office did not supply her
with the information about the officer's false statements. The
district attorney's office did not oppose the appeal. The matter is
pending before the state Court of Criminal Appeals.

Polygraph testing

Months after the appeal was filed, Ms. Washington resigned after more
than eight years as a prosecutor. Mr. Hill said an internal
investigation of the matter - including a polygraph test - concluded
that she was not aware of the false statements before the officer
testified but that she could have come forward sooner after she
learned of the problem.

Mr. Long also took a polygraph. His response that he could not
remember receiving the information two years earlier was inconclusive,
Mr. Hill said.

Mr. Hughes truthfully answered the questions posed to him in the
polygraph, Mr. Hill said.

Deputy Rodriguez was terminated from the Sheriff's Department for
perjury. Department spokesman Don Peritz said the agency performed an
internal investigation of Deputy Rodriguez's work and found no
evidence of false statements in any of his previous testimony as a
witness.