MENA FAMILY AGREES TO NONBINDING MEDIATION

The family of Ismael Mena, the Mexican national killed by a Denver
police SWAT team, agreed to mediation with the city for advice on an
out-of-court settlement.

Mena was shot to death Sept. 29 during a no-knock drug raid on the
wrong house. He had been sleeping in an upstairs bedroom in a house in
the Cole neighborhood after working the graveyard shift at a soda
bottling plant.

Denver City Attorney J. Wallace Wortham Jr., along with Robert Maes,
who is representing the Mena family, announced Tuesday that the
Judicial Arbiter Group Inc. has been asked to mediate the claim.

Mayor Wellington Webb, who last week received a special prosecutor's
report confirming that a police officer gave the wrong address for the
raid, said he wants a fair settlement.

The officer, Joseph Bini, has been charged with perjury.

"It's our intent to let the mediation people come up with something,"
Webb said Tuesday. The mediators' proposal wouldn't bind either party
to accept a dollar amount, but would provide a benchmark.

Any proposed settlement is expected to exceed the statutory $150,000
limit on government liability, and to top the $250,000 settlement
agreed to in November 1998 by the family of Jeff Truax, who was shot
to death by an off-duty Denver officer in the aftermath of a bar scuffle.

The Judicial Arbiter Group is the state's most high-profile group of
mediators, with a roster that includes former federal and state
judges. It is based in Denver.

Wortham and Maes said the two sides agreed that it is in the best
interests of the city and the family to reach a swift resolution of
any claim for the wrongful death.