DRUG EVIDENCE ALLOWED AT OFFICER'S TRIAL

Albany Ruling Involves Crack Allegedly Found In Schenectady Cop's Locker

Drugs that were allegedly found in a Schenectady police officer's station
house locker will be allowed into the courtroom as evidence against the cop
at his trial later this month, a federal judge has ruled.

Officer Michael Siler, 33, has been indicted on a federal racketeering
charge and several felonies, which include allegations that he took crack
cocaine out of his police locker and gave it to a woman addicted to crack
to lure her to a bachelor party in 1997 for a fellow officer, sources said.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

On Monday, District Judge David Hurd ruled that police had the right to
issue a warrant to search Siler's locker on Aug. 19, 1999. Police allegedly
found crack cocaine, heroin, marijuana and drug scales inside the locker,
according to sources.

The search came days after the Schenectady police chief and mayor announced
they had asked the FBI to investigate allegations of officer misconduct.
The FBI's ongoing probe into corruption in the 165-member police force is
nearing the two-year mark.

So far, Siler, Officer Richard Barnett and their supervisor, Lt. Michael
Hamilton, have been indicted in connection with the FBI investigation.
Barnett has pleaded guilty to drug distribution and extortion and is
expected to testify against Siler in return for a reduced sentence.

Siler's lawyer, Michael Koenig, had argued that police had no basis to
search the locker. Hurd disagreed.

The five people who testified in support of the search in court papers
"provided a sufficient basis for a reasonable officer to believe that
evidence of a crime would be found at the premises specified," the judge ruled.

Officers are required to turn all drugs they seize from suspects or find on
the street into a safe at the Schenectady Police Department, said Assistant
Chief William Grasso. Officers are not allowed to store drugs in their
locker, he said.

Koenig had also asked the judge to dismiss Siler's racketeering charge
because it is based "almost entirely, if not exclusively, upon the
testimony of known drug dealers, addicts, users, and/or informants and
snitches" who were given deals in exchange for testimony.

The federal racketeering law, or RICO, was created in 1962 to give
prosecutors a tool for going after organized crime leaders. It gives
prosecutors an edge by allowing them to introduce more evidence at trial
than they would otherwise be able to, giving the jury a broader picture,
according to legal experts.

Koenig also claimed that the racketeering indictment, handed up in March --
seven months after Siler was first charged with drug distribution and
extortion -- was punishment for his refusal to plead guilty to earlier charges.

Hurd ruled that there was enough evidence to support the indictment. He
dismissed Koenig's claim that prosecutors had acted improperly.

"There is no legal basis to conclude that Siler is the victim of vindictive
prosecution based on the mere fact that additional charges were brought
after his failure to plead guilty to earlier indictments," he wrote.

The judge is expected to rule at Siler's trial whether prosecutors can play
audiotapes for the jury as evidence there may have been a conspiracy
between Siler and a person, referred to at a June suppression hearing only
as "Hamilton," to intimidate witnesses expected to testify against the
officers. No criminal charges have been filed in connection with that
alleged conspiracy.

However, the racketeering charge against Siler include allegations that he
falsified police reports and threatened prospective witnesses. The trial is
expected to start July 23.