OFFICERS' ATTORNEYS IN OREGON CASE SEEK BAD-FAITH FINDING

A federal judge should find, without a hearing, that U.S. prosecutors
engaged in misconduct because they admitted presenting perjurious
testimony to win civil rights indictments against two former Houston
police officers, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Attorneys for Darrell Strouse and James Willis referred to a
government brief filed last week in urging that U.S. District Judge
Nancy Atlas issue a bad-faith finding immediately.

Chip Lewis, an attorney for Strouse, said prosecutors admitted in
their May 19 brief that Rogelio Oregon Pineda lied to a state grand
jury and acknowledged that they presented that testimony to a federal
panel.

Lewis' motion said an evidentiary hearing, therefore, is no longer
necessary for Atlas to find there was misconduct.

Prosecutors said last week they oppose an open-court hearing on the
misconduct allegations.

Atlas dismissed the indictments against Strouse and Willis on April
19, saying they were based on false testimony by Rogelio Oregon on
critical issues.

She noted that he admitted lying to the grand jury, the Harris County
District Attorney's Office and an FBI agent in a civil deposition
given for his family's lawsuit against the city of Houston.

The suit was filed over the shooting death of Pedro Oregon, Rogelio's
brother, during a 1998 drug raid by six Houston officers, including
Strouse and Willis.

Atlas invited the U.S. Attorney's Office to seek the officers'
reindictment without Rogelio Oregon's testimony, but prosecutors,
instead, challenged her authority to quash the indictments without a
finding of serious misconduct.

Although Assistant U.S. Attorney Paula Offenhauser acknowledged that
the federal grand jury was given Rogelio Oregon's state grand jury
testimony, she said there was no misconduct.

She said neither Rogelio Oregon nor U.S. prosecutors told federal
grand jurors that his state grand jury testimony was true.

The federal jurors were given the state grand jury testimony so they
could assess Rogelio Oregon's credibility for themselves, Offenhauser
said

But Lewis said the No. 2 man in the U.S. Attorney's Office here
labeled the civil rights case unwinable after his underlings were told
of perjurious statements by Rogellio Oregon.

Greg Serres, first assistant U.S. attorney, said he did not believe
his office could win the case against Strouse and Willis, according to
an affidavit from Harris County Assistant District Attorney Edward
Porter.

Porter said Serres made the remark as they discussed the case at a
party in January. Porter also said he warned federal prosecutors that
Rogelio Oregon lied during the law enforcement and state grand jury
investigations of his brother's death.

Serres' alleged remark was mentioned in a previous defense motion,
without attribution to Porter. In last week's motion, Offenhauser
called Serres' alleged statement "entirely unsubstantiated and
unverified."

Prosecutor Quincy Ollison declined to comment on Porter's affidavit,
saying, "There is nothing new of relevance provided by the defense in
their motion. It is the same emotional rhetoric from the defense that
is designed to incite public opinion."

A federal grand jury indicted the two officers last year, saying they
violated the brothers' civil rights by illegally entering Rogelio
Oregon's southwest Houston apartment.

Rogelio Oregon was indicted last month on two state felony aggravated
perjury charges and one misdemeanor perjury charge. He is accused of
giving conflicting statements about his brother's ownership of a gun,
his acquaintance with police informant Ryan Baxter and conversations
with Baxter the night of the shooting.

Police have said a tip from Baxter sent them to Rogelio Oregon's
apartment, and that one officer fired a shot after believing that
Pedro Oregon had pulled a pistol

The other officers said they thought the shot came from Pedro Oregon
and returned fire, hitting Pedro Oregon 12 times.

A Harris County grand jury indicted only Willis, on a misdemeanor
charge of criminal trespass. He was acquitted.