SENTENCING FOR RICHARDSON IS TODAY

Ex-Detective Richardson Will Be Sentenced Today

Probation Will Be Sought For Ex-Officer

The sentencing today of the second former detective charged in one of
Jefferson County's largest police-corruption cases could bring one chapter
of the story of Mark Watson and Christie Richardson to an end.

But the fallout from the bogus search warrants and charges that resulted
from their work could last for years. Richardson could face additional
charges, and four lawsuits are pending that include allegations of
civil-rights violations by Watson, Richardson and the Louisville-Jefferson
County Metro Government.

The case against Watson and Richardson, who were partners in the Metro
Narcotics unit, involved allegations of using photocopied judges'
signatures to create bogus search warrants, reporting payments that
informants said they didn't get and collecting overtime pay for work that
wasn't done.

Watson pleaded guilty to 299 felonies and is serving a 20-year prison
sentence. A jury found Richardson, who was charged with nearly as many
counts as Watson, guilty of 20 felonies, while acquitting her on the bulk
of the charges she faced.

Prosecutors are considering whether to ask a grand jury to indict
Richardson in connection with a search warrant that has a photocopied
judge's signature and Richardson's signature on it. The warrant was used as
evidence in Richardson's trial after her co-defendant, Watson, told
investigators about it during his plea negotiations. Thus far, she has not
been charged with anything relating to that warrant.

Jonathan Dyar, an assistant commonwealth's attorney and one of the
prosecutors in the Richardson trial, said the sentence imposed on her will
not affect the decision about whether to seek new charges against her.

"It's a very real possibility" that additional charges will be sought, Dyar
said.

Steve Schroering, Richardson's attorney, declined to comment on the
possibility of new charges, but he defended the jury's verdict and said he
hopes Jefferson Circuit Judge Steve Mershon follows its recommendation for
a one-year sentence.

Since the investigation became public last year, eight convictions have
been set aside involving seven defendants. Charges against 32 defendants
have been dismissed in 19 cases that were pending in Circuit Court.
Prosecutors also dropped allegations that were pending before the grand
jury involving 17 defendants in nine cases.

In District Court, 16 cases have been dismissed or convictions in them set
aside, according to a spokesman for the county attorney's office.

A review of other cases involving the detectives is ongoing, said Shane
Young, the chief narcotics prosecutor in the commonwealth's attorney's office.

That review of cases investigated by either of the former detectives is
expected to continue for the foreseeable future, Young said. He said he
expects that the number of requests for reviews will begin to taper off in
a few months.

Young said the possibility of new requests to review old cases could extend
for years as defendants in the bogus cases get in trouble in the future.

Dyar said he received a letter from an inmate last week challenging the
legitimacy of his conviction. "It's another one to look at," Dyar said.

Mershon is to set sentence today for Richardson, who will request probation
in lieu of prison time, Schroering said.

While the jury recommended one-year prison terms on the 20 felonies, it
also recommended the terms run concurrently. Mershon could reject the
recommendation and instead set some or all of them to run consecutively,
something prosecutors said they will request.

Mershon said in a previous sentencing, however, that he rarely departs from
a jury's recommendation.

Schroering said he doesn't expect to call any witnesses today.

"Christie has since the outset, and always will, absolutely maintain her
innocence of any criminal conduct," he said. She had maintained that all
the wrongdoing was Watson's and she had no knowledge of it.

After Richardson's trial, jurors released a statement that faulted a lack
of oversight by supervisors for some of the detective's behavior.

After the jury made its sentencing recommendation, former county police
Chief William Carcara indicated the jury wasn't harsh enough and called its
decision a joke.

Schroering disagreed. "I think its a joke that he would make that type of
statement without knowing everything that there is to know about the case,"
he said. "It's easy to sit back and make blanket statements about something
that you really don't know anything about."

Anyone critical of the jury's finding should watch the videotape of the
entire trial, Schroering said. "If they do that, then they have every right
to make an informed judgment as to whether they think it was fair," he said.

Early in what was initially the trial of both Richardson and Watson, Watson
pleaded guilty to the 299 felonies. Watson's plea left Richardson, who
prosecutors said was the secondary actor but just as responsible as Watson,
as the lone defendant.

"The general rule is the smaller fish pleads to get the bigger fish," said
University of Kentucky law professor Allison Connelly, but that doesn't
mean the reverse can't happen.She defended what prosecutors did in agreeing
to let Watson to plead guilty, even though he was viewed as the primary target.

"A 20-year sentence is pretty darn stiff," Connelly said. It's possible,
she said, that had Watson continued in the trial, that the jury could have
assigned all the blame to him.

"This was a way to get a conviction on both, perhaps," Connelly said. ". .
. She was still convicted. Probably the sentence isn't what they
(prosecutors) wanted or believed was fair, but the jury's spoken."

Dyar said he and co-prosecutor Scott Davis agreed to Watson's plea because
the recommended punishment for him was fair.

"The verdict against her made me even happier with the decision to plead
him," Dyar said. "It just shows you why you plead cases, because there's
risk going to trial, especially in the light that Judge Mershon sentenced
him to the 20 years."

At Watson's sentencing, Mershon said Watson's misconduct furthered
community mistrust of police and "wreaked complete havoc on the court system."

Four lawsuits are pending against the metro government over the actions of
the detectives, said Bill Patteson, a spokesman for the county attorney's
office, which represents the merged government.

One, filed in Circuit Court, is seeking to become a class-action case for
all the potential plaintiffs whose rights were violated by either
detective. The other three are filed in U.S. District Court. All allege
civil-rights violations and are in the early stages.

"The pace will quicken once Christie is sentenced," said Maury Kommor, a
plaintiff's attorney in the JCircuit Court case. He said many of the
records needed for that case have been on hold because of the criminal case
against the detectives.

"We feel that there will be between 300 and 400 members of the class,"
Kommor said. "It's hard to tell completely until we get all of our
requested records."