COP CHARGED IN MENA KILLING

JeffCo DA Finds Denver Officer 'Knowingly' Lied To Get Search Warrant For
'No-Knock' Drug Raid

JEFFERSON COUNTY -- A special prosecutor on Friday accused a Denver cop of
lying to get a search warrant that led to a fatal "no-knock" drug raid.

Jefferson County District Attorney Dave Thomas charged officer Joseph Bini
with felony perjury in the wake of the Sept. 29 surprise raid on a High
Street home that ended in the death of Ismael Mena, 45.

As a result of the warrant, officers hit the wrong house, Thomas said.

Thomas, who also concluded that SWAT officers were justified when they shot
Mena and will not be charged, said he struggled with the decision to file
charges against Bini, 31.

"When you make decisions about the filing of criminal charges, against
anybody, it's a very, very difficult decision," Thomas said during a
one-hour, 15-minute news conference.

If he's convicted, Bini faces up to six years in prison.

Bini's attorney, David Bruno, said the key question was whether the officer
knew the statements in the warrant were false.

"He would not have sent his fellow officers to this house if he'd known it
was the wrong address," Brunco said.

Thomas, however, said the charges allege that Bini "knowingly" lied in the
affidavit.

Denver suspended Bini without pay Friday. He surrendered to authorities that
morning, was booked and then released pending a Feb. 18 court date.

Thomas would not discuss evidence that led him to conclude Bini lied.

He said, however, that the original drug deal occurred at the single-story
home at 3742 High St., not at the two-story home where Mena lived, at 3738
High St. In his affidavit, Bini wrote that he saw a confidential informant
walk to 3738 High St. to buy drugs.

A witness list submitted as part of the court documents listed 66 people,
including 24 Denver cops.

Bini joined Denver police in 1995. According to records at the Colorado
Bureau of Investigation, Bini was arrested twice before he became an officer
- -- in 1992 in Denver on a misdemeanor auto theft charge and in 1990 in Grand
Junction on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. The disposition of
those two cases could not be determined Friday.

In the days after the Sept. 29 raid, Denver officers concluded that they hit
the wrong house. It was more than two months before they acknowledged it
publicly.

On Dec. 2, Thomas was appointed a special prosecutor to look at the
circumstances of the shooting because one of the officers involved is the
brother of an investigator in the Denver district attorney's office.

At the same time, authorities investigated a claim by a Denver officer who
felt pressured by superiors to make it appear that there had been a history
of trouble at the Mena home. That investigation found no basis for charges.

Despite concluding that the warrant should have been written for the home
next door, Thomas said extensive evidence exonerated SWAT officers who
carried out the raid.

When officers stormed the house, the door to Mena's room was latched, so an
officer kicked it in. That's when an officer saw Mena, armed with an
eight-shot revolver, standing on his bed.

In the ensuing confrontation, Thomas said, the officers screamed "police"
and "drop the gun" several times.

However, Mena raised the gun at officers. A gunbattle followed in the
cramped hallway outside his room, with Mena firing three shots. Two SWAT
officers fired a total of nine rounds, including two through a wall and two
through Mena's bedroom door as he alternately sought cover and looked out,
aiming his gun.

It was impossible to tell who fired the first shot.

"Whether Mr. Mena fired first or did not fire first, in my opinion, is not
pertinent," Thomas said.

Colorado officers can use deadly force if they believe they or others are in
imminent danger.

At the same time, Thomas said the evidence debunked claims made by a private
investigator:

That the initial police investigation wasn't thorough because detectives
didn't take the section of the wall or the door as evidence.

Instead, Thomas said, they extensively photographed the door and wall, using
rods to show the trajectory of the bullets.

"In my experience over the last 26 years, that is not unusual," Thomas said.

That officers fired at Mena from "point blank" range.

Thomas said physical evidence proved that wasn't true.

When a gun is fired, burned powder shoots out the barrel with the bullet.
When a person is shot from within a foot or two, the area around the wound
is burned by powder. Investigators found none on Mena's body.

That Mena's gun was planted.

Mena's supporters point out that his .380-caliber handgun was confiscated by
police two weeks before the shooting. Where did he get another gun, they
ask?

His roommates also said they never heard him talk about owning another gun.

But Thomas said there was no evidence to support that the gun was planted.

Among the most compelling pieces of evidence, he said, were the statements
made by officers within hours of the shooting.

One officer, asked several times whether Mena fired at him, said simply, "I
don't know."

An officer covering up an unjustified shooting, Thomas believes, would be
much more likely to insist that he was fired on.

Thomas' report follows other recent Denver police controversies, including
the hiring of a recruit with a checkered past and the disciplining of
several officers for beating drug suspects with their guns last summer.

Still, John Wyckoff, a veteran officer and official in the police union,
said it was reassuring to know the most recent controversy was carefully
investigated.

"Any time you have a loss of life, it demands a thorough investigation," he
said.

(SIDEBAR)

Prosecutors accuse Denver police officer Joseph Bini of "unlawfully and
knowingly" lying on a search warrant affidavit. They list six instances:

Bini's sworn statement that he received information from area residents that
crack cocaine was being sold at 3738 High St.

That he personally observed an informant make his or her way on foot to the
house.

That the informant and a suspect walked to the house and met with another
man who lives at 3738 High St.

That the informant saw the man he described as "Joe" make contact with the
resident of 3738 High.

That the home's occupant left the area of the home's front door and went
into the living area.

That the occupant returned to the front door a short time later, and then
the informant saw an exchange of money for drugs.

Events surrounding the no-knock search

Sept. 14: Denver police arrest Ismael Mena, a Mexican immigrant, at 3742
High St. after finding him a .380-caliber handgun concealed on him. Officers
confiscate the weapon.

Sept. 21: A "confidential informant" buys crack cocaine at 3742 High and
reports the wrong address, 3738 High St., to police.

Sept. 23: Denver police officer Joseph Bini writes an affidavit for an
"immediate entry" search warrant, commonly known as a "no-knock" warrant. In
the warrant, Bini says he saw the informant on Sept. 21 go to a house at
3738 High St. where a drug buy was made.

Denver Deputy District Attorney Carlos Samour reviews and signs the warrant.

Denver County Judge Raymond Satter reads and signs the warrant.

Sept. 29: The police department's SWAT team scouts out 3738 High St., even
videotaping the house before the raid.

At 1:47 p.m., 13 officers storm the house, and Mena is killed in a gunfight
with officers on the second floor.

Dec. 7: Denver SWAT officers raid a home at 3742 High St., next door to
Mena's house. Officers said they found cocaine and arrested a 24-year-old
man and a 12-year-old boy.