DRUG STING APPEALS DENIED

Men Won't Get New Trials, Despite Involvement Of Discredited Informant

Two men caught in early drug stings arranged by a now-discredited police
informant won't get out of prison anytime soon.

The state's highest criminal appellate court has denied the appeals of
Dario Luna Medrano and Jose Santos Gonzalez - even though prosecutors and a
judge joined their lawyer in requesting new trials because of witness
credibility problems.

The discredited witness is Enrique Alonso, the police informant who pleaded
guilty in September to federal charges stemming from dozens of drug arrests
involving fake substances. The men's appeals - filed in May - are believed
to be the first considered by the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin that
raise concerns about Mr. Alonso's credibility.

District Attorney Bill Hill said his office currently has no plans to aid
Mr. Medrano or Mr. Gonzalez - by seeking a pardon - because their cases
involved real drugs. Mr. Hill noted that other evidence bolsters testimony
or information Mr. Alonso provided. Also, Mr. Medrano had two other
unrelated drug charges.

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"Based on the facts that these were 6 pounds of pure cocaine, with
corroborating evidence, we are satisfied that we have done everything that
we agreed to do," Mr. Hill said. "We do not feel that we need to do
anything else."

Two independent appellate specialists said the attorney for the men, Eric
Smenner, bears some responsibility for the rejection because he failed to
make a proper argument.

Brian Wice, a Houston lawyer who specializes in appellate work and gives
lectures on the subject across the state, said Mr. Smenner got into a
credibility fight with prosecutors that he couldn't win.

In response, Mr. Smenner said his hands were tied by the facts of the case.
He noted that it wasn't until last month that Mr. Alonso admitted lying in
a real drug case.

"There just wasn't anything else left available," Mr. Smenner said. "The
sole basis of [appeal] in this case was the informant was not reliable and
it was discovered after the conviction."

Mr. Hill said that he would review the men's cases - and those of other
defendants with denied appeals - to determine if his office should help
them further. At least two other defendants remain in prison with
convictions involving Mr. Alonso's participation. "We are reviewing our
options on each one of these defendants," Mr. Hill said.

He said he wasn't reneging on his promise to help defendants in cases
involving Mr. Alonso: "Where I draw the line is if they're real drugs and
if the informant can be corroborated. If they're fake drugs, I'll go down
to the governor's office and try to go above what we agreed to. But if
they're real drugs and the informant can be corroborated, we've done
everything that we agreed to do."

Dallas police arrested Mr. Medrano, 26, and Mr. Gonzalez, 33, in December
1999 after a cocaine deal arranged by Mr. Alonso, who at the time was
"working off" his own narcotics cases.

He later became one of the Dallas Police Department's highest paid informants.

Federal authorities have been investigating the fake-drug scandal since
January, three months after the first large haul of purported cocaine
turned out to be finely ground Sheetrock. Senior Cpl. Mark Delapaz and
Officer Eddie Herrera, the officers on many of the fake-drug cases, remain
on paid leave. The district attorney's office has dismissed more than 85
drug cases considered tainted by involvement from the officers, Mr. Alonso
or several of his "subcontractor" informants.

Mr. Alonso signed an affidavit last month admitting he perjured himself to
obtain a conviction against Jaime Chavez, whose case involved real drugs. A
judge has allowed Mr. Chavez to leave prison on a personal recognizance
bond until the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reviews his case. He had
been imprisoned more than two years after a jury convicted him.

Mr. Alonso has not publicly admitted lying in other cases. His attorney,
Bruce Anton, said Monday that he was unfamiliar with Mr. Gonzalez' or Mr.
Medrano's cases. But, Mr. Anton said he would be glad to look into the matter.

"If people [lawyers] feel they have clients who have been wrongly
convicted, they should contact the Department of Justice or me," Mr. Anton
said.

Attorney Frustrated

Mr. Smenner, who donated his time on the men's appeal because his firm
handled their cases, said he's been left frustrated by the entire situation.

"If their cases would have come up after all this was discovered, there
would have been a different result," he said. "I just feel like there
should be an equitable solution here, but it's such a wooden institution,
it's just not there."

Mr. Smenner learned in mid-September that the Court of Criminal Appeals
denied the men's appeals without explanation. In the appeals, he noted that
Mr. Alonso's credibility problems had surfaced long after his clients'
charges and alleged that prosecutors denied him information about Mr.
Alonso that would have changed the outcome of the cases.

Mr. Wice, a critic of many of the Court of Criminal Appeals' decisions,
said he couldn't find fault with their ruling in Mr. Gonzalez's or Mr.
Medrano's case.

He also said the men's cases might not warrant a new trial under the law -
despite the credibility problems that surfaced with Mr. Alonso.

The informant may have been a liar, "but unless you can show a nexus
between his misconduct and the entrance of a guilty plea or a guilty
verdict, then you don't get a get-out-of-jail-free card."