JESSAMY CRITICIZED OVER CASE DISMISSAL

Police who were shot acted properly, chief says

Baltimore's acting police commissioner voiced objection yesterday to a
decision by the chief city prosecutor to drop charges against a man who shot
four detectives in a botched drug raid, saying police acted properly and
that the case should go forward.

"I take exception to the fact that she did not proceed with the charges,"
Commissioner John McEntee said of State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy. "I
feel this should have been taken to the grand jury. That would have been an
appropriate way to handle this."

Jessamy dropped the case against Lewis S. Cauthorne yesterday after
concluding that the raiding officers - who were wearing street clothes - did
not announce that they were police before smashing down Cauthorne's door
with a battering ram and rushing in to look for drugs.

"The investigation led me to believe Mr. Cauthorne was acting in
self-defense," Jessamy said. "Ultimately, I have concluded I will not
present this case to the grand jury."

McEntee said he is "confident" that Jessamy thought through her decision,
but he said he disagreed with the idea of declining to prosecute a man who
shot and wounded four of his officers. None sustained life-threatening
injuries.

"I would have liked to see everything possible prosecuted in this case," he
said.

When conducting a raid, police must knock and announce their presence before
breaking down a door, according to precedent-setting case law established in
Wilson vs. Arkansas. The Supreme Court case also held that police must offer
an opportunity for someone to answer the knock.

After the raid, the 10 members of the police team were unable to provide a
consensus of what happened as they broke down the door.

Some said at least one officer yelled "police" as they entered the house,
while at least five others said they couldn't remember what - if anything -
was spoken in the tense moments before the raid.

Jessamy said dropping the charges put her in a difficult situation.

"We appreciate that law enforcement officers are working very hard to
protect us every day," she said. "What I am concerned about is that we
conform to the Supreme Court decision, as much for the safety of police
officers as for citizens. I want our police officers to be safe."

But Danny Fickus, incoming president of the city police union, said
Jessamy's decision sent a message to police officers that she does not
support them.

"To just indiscriminately make that determination and not even give it an
opportunity to go to a suppression hearing or a grand jury is just totally
unfair to police officers and the officers involved and the citizens of
Baltimore," Fickus said. "What message are we sending to the criminal
element? What message are we sending to our officers?"

The union leader added, "Mr. Cauthorne had two defense attorneys working on
his behalf - he had Warren Brown and Pat Jessamy."

Cauthorne's lawyer, Warren A. Brown, said dropping the charges was a "very
important decision" by prosecutors.

"It is conceivable they would try to make [a criminal prosecution] work
because of the gravity of the offense," Brown said. He also said dismissal
of the charges sends a message that "you have the right to protect yourself
in your own home."

Cauthorne, who was released yesterday after 50 days in jail, sat in Brown's
office last night with his mother and girlfriend.

"If they just said 'police,' I never would have done that," said Cauthorne.

At the time of the police raid Nov. 19, Cauthorne was at home with his
mother, girlfriend and 3-year-old daughter.

Police conducted the raid at 8:55 p.m. with a search warrant, authorities
have said, after they were told by an anonymous source that drugs were being
sold out of the home in the 1000 block of Cameron Road.

When the two women in the house heard the door being knocked in, they
screamed to Cauthorne in the basement that someone was breaking in.
Cauthorne ran upstairs, grabbed the gun and shot the officers, authorities
said. Police returned the gunfire, but no one else in the house was hit.

The raid yielded six bags with trace amounts of marijuana, empty vials, a
razor with cocaine residue and two scales. Cauthorne is not charged with any
drug or weapon offenses.

Sun staff writer Del Quentin Wilber contributed to this article.