SCHENECTADY OFFICERS SENTENCED IN POLICE CORRUPTION TRIAL

UTICA -- Two Schenectady police officers who admitted shaking down drug
dealers and giving crack cocaine to informants were sentenced Wednesday to
prison.

Richard D. Barnett pleaded guilty in July 2000 to extortion and drug
charges, admitting that he and his partner, Michael Siler, traded 3.5 grams
of crack cocaine for details about crimes in Schenectady.

U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd gave Barnett 15 months on each count
but the sentences will run at the same time. He also got three years probation.

"You are no longer a police officer," Hurd said. "You'll shortly become a
prisoner."

"You're a disgrace to that noble profession," he said.

Siler was sentenced later to 24 months in prison and three years probation
on each of four charges, extortion, cocaine distribution, marijuana and
heroin distribution and racketeering. His sentences also are concurrent.

"In the words of the layman, you are a dirty cop," Hurd said.

Siler apologized to every member of the department.

"There are many good people in the police department. Some of them are here
today," Siler said. "And the job they do is almost impossible. What I did
made it harder."

Siler could have faced up to 71 months in prison on the four counts. Four
other counts were dismissed, and Hurd accepted the prosecutor's request for
leniency because of Siler's testimony against other officers.

Barnett, who stood motionless as Hurd lectured him and handed down his
sentence, apologized to the people of Schenectady, the police department,
his family and friends.

"I'm not proud of my actions," Barnett said.

He said being a policeman gave him a great deal of power and he used that
power to break the law.

During a postponement before sentencing, the 32-year-old Barnett sat alone
in the courtroom's gallery for about an hour, part of the time with his
head in his hands.

Barnett, a nine-year police veteran, will begin his sentence April 23.
Where he will spend the 15 months has yet to be determined.

He could have been sentenced to almost five years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Katko asked that jail be temporarily postponed
so Barnett could review some cases with the Schenectady County district
attorney's office.

Katko, in seeking a lesser sentence, praised Barnett for cooperating with
prosecutors, including grand jury testimony.

"You broke the proverbial blue wall of silence," Katko said.

As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors did not pursue criminal charges
against Barnett's wife, Lara Andrew, for filing a false insurance claim
over damages to a boat the couple owned. Andrew had her law license
suspended for a year because of the claim.

Prosecutors said Siler, in addition to giving crack to informants,
falsified police records and intimidated a witness to avoid prosecution. He
could have faced a maximum of 30 years in prison if he had gone to trial.

Siler, 33, also agreed to cooperate with the FBI in a probe into corruption
on the city police force.

Siler, who shook hands with a few former colleagues after his sentencing,
is to turn himself in for incarceration April 23.

Two other Schenectady police officers, Lt. Michael Hamilton and Officer
Nicola Messere, were convicted in January as part of the probe.

Messere was convicted of possession and distribution of crack and Hamilton
of aiding the operation of a crack house by tipping an informant to an
investigation in 2000. He also was convicted of using a cell phone to
facilitate the crack house operation.

Messere and Hamilton have filed court papers seeking dismissal of the verdict.

All four officers have been fired.

Hurd denied defense attorneys' motions Wednesday to shorten the sentences
for their own protection so they would serve no time in prison, where they
could be vulnerable as former police officers, and especially as officers
who had cooperated.

Hurd said he was troubled that no good honest police officers had come
forward to testify against Barnett and Siler, and other officers must have
known about the wrongdoing that they each admitted.

"Unfortunately in this noble profession, there appears to be a flaw," Hurd said.