COP CLEARED OF DRUG DEAL BUT FACES PRISON FOR KNOWING ABOUT IT

Jurors in Hackensack on Friday acquitted a North Bergen police officer on
charges of selling the drug Ecstasy in a Fairview nightclub, but they
convicted him on a more serious count of official misconduct, which
probably will lead to a state prison sentence.

Marc Corso, 28, had been a police officer for about two years when he was
arrested in April 2000 for allegedly selling the popular designer drug to
an undercover officer in the Drama Club on Broad Avenue.

Undercover detectives testified that Corso was with another man, Giovanni
Gallo, who exchanged the two Ecstasy tablets for $50. Investigators
arrested both men minutes later.

In a split verdict, the jurors acquitted Corso on both drug charges --
distribution and possession of Ecstasy -- but voted to convict him of
official misconduct.

Bergen County Assistant Prosecutor Kenneth Ralph explained that the jury
didn't have to believe that Corso actively sold drugs in order to convict
him of official misconduct. But his position as a police officer bound him
to take some action, which he did not, Ralph said.

"Having knowledge that another person was distributing drugs and not doing
anything about it was part of the indictment," Ralph said.

Official misconduct is a second-degree crime punishable by a maximum of 10
years in prison. Given his previously clean record, it is unlikely that
Corso will receive the maximum, Ralph said.

However, it is almost a certainty that Corso will go to prison. Sentencing
guidelines mandate incarceration for anyone convicted of a second-degree
offense, except under extraordinary circumstances, Ralph said.

The conviction means that Corso automatically forfeits his job as a police
officer. He has been on suspension without pay since his arrest last year.

Corso's attorney, John A. Young Jr. of Jersey City, said he was "very
upset" about the verdict.

"I have a lot of concerns about it," Young said. "We have a verdict that
comes in at 4:15 in the afternoon. It came an hour after the jury had
announced they were at an impasse."

The jurors had begun their deliberations Thursday afternoon and deliberated
most of the day Friday. When the jurors announced they were stuck, Superior
Court Judge John A. Conte instructed them to resume their deliberations. An
hour later, they had reached a verdict.

Young said his client was "frustrated and confused."

"What you have here is a jury that found reasonable doubt of whether Marc
Corso was involved in a drug transaction," Young said. "Yet somehow they
sorted through and found he was guilty of misconduct for observing that
transaction."

"The evidence was either that he was there and was involved, or he wasn't."

Young said he planned to file motions seeking to have the conviction
overturned.