COP CHARGED IN NO-KNOCK RAID

Feb. 5 - A special prosecutor charged a Denver police officer Friday with
lying to get the no-knock search warrant that eventually led to the death of
45-year-old Ismael Mena.

And if officer Joseph Bini's drug informant hadn't misidentified which home
was a supposed crack house, the father of nine wouldn't have been in a
gunfight, Jefferson County District Attorney Dave Thomas said.

The findings of Thomas' two-month investigation resounded at Denver city
hall, where Mayor Wellington Webb expressed sorrow for Mena's death and
called for a review of how the department uses noknock warrants.

"Obviously these officers were at the wrong house, and that process needs to
be reviewed," Webb said. "There are legitimate questions that need to be
answered about these warrants."

The department issued about 200 noknock warrants last year, police said.

Thomas said SWAT officers were justified in gunning down Mena during the
Sept. 29 raid, largely because he pointed and fired a .22-caliber handgun at
police.

Mena may have had the gun to protect the drug dealing going on next door,
Thomas said.

Regardless, the warrant that led to the raid was filled with lies, Thomas
said.

"At the heart of the whole incident is the search warrant," Thomas said. "It
relates to an individual, officer Joseph Bini, making what we allege are
false statements under oath, knowing they were false." The charges against
Bini allege he lied about several things, including:

That he received information that 3738 High St., where Mena lived, was a
crack house.

That he saw the informant go to the house.

That the informant went to the house with a suspect.

That a drug buy happened at the house.

Thomas said Bini's informant, who made a $20 buy of crack cocaine Sept. 21,
"miscounted the houses and remembered it wrong. He's responsible for the
address, saying he counted the houses down the street," Thomas said.

The 31-year-old Bini, who joined the force in 1995, was relieved of his gun
and badge at 10:30 a.m. Friday and suspended without pay, Webb said. He was
charged with one count of first-degree perjury, a felony that could land him
in prison for two to six years if convicted. He was released on a personal
recognizance bond.

In court records, Thomas has listed 39 potential witnesses against Bini,
including Raymond Satter, the Denver District Court judge who signed Bini's
search warrant Sept. 23.

Thomas did not say whether Bini witnessed the undercover buy, but the
affidavit Bini filed to get the warrant suggests he did not. No drugs were
found in the raid, and no charges were filed against anyone in the house.

The house next to Mena's, which neighbors said was the known crack house,
was raided several weeks later. Several arrests were made and cocaine
confiscated, court records show.

Regarding SWAT officers Mark Haney and Kenneth Overman, who shot at Mena,
Thomas said: "They acted legally and properly and used the force necessary
to protect themselves."

That force, however, wouldn't have been needed had the warrant been obtained
legally and correctly - and if officers had been in the right house.

That's why Webb is calling for the review.

Webb said he wants Police Chief Tom Sanchez and Denver District Attorney
Bill Ritter to examine the criteria for issuing search warrants; the process
of reviewing requests for no-knock warrants; and the frequency with which
no-knock warrants are issued and their effectiveness.

Webb said he expects a report within 60 days.

Mena's gun was a German model that hasn't been traced to any legal gun
dealer. And Thomas said Mena may have used it to help protect the crack
house next door that police should have raided - and eventually did.

"We were contacted by a party in jail who said he bought crack at (the house
next to Mena's) and Mena was minding the gate at the back of the property,"
Thomas said. "He felt Mena was armed with a gun in his sleeve. In a lineup
of photos, he identified Mena as the person he believed was the gatekeeper
of the crack house." Thomas said there was a moment that Mena, a Mexican
immigrant, might have been able to walk away alive.

As police shouted their insistence for him to drop the gun, yelling that
they were the police, Mena - hiding half behind his bedroom door, started to
put the gun down and asked, "Policia?" At that moment, Sgt. Anthony
Iacovetta came from behind a wall and made a move to disarm Mena, who
pointed the gun again at police.

That's when Overman, standing at the top of the stairs facing Mena's bedroom
door, began firing, followed by Haney. Mena fell backward into a sitting
position.

Bleeding from wounds to his head and chest, Mena inexplicably lifted his gun
again, Thomas said. Although police weren't sure, Mena apparently fired his
gun at police and more gunfire erupted.

In all, eight bullets hit Mena. Three bullets from Mena's gun lodged in
hallway walls - two of them just above Overman's head, Thomas said.

"They felt extraordinarily threatened and felt very afraid of being shot,"
Thomas said of the officers.

However, police and Thomas still aren't sure who fired first - the officers
or Mena.

"That doesn't matter," Thomas said.

Webb insisted the officers acted properly and momentarily chastised Mena for
pointing his gun.

"If Mena did not have a gun or point it at police officers, he'd be alive
today," Webb said.

The city is facing a civil-rights lawsuit by Mena's family, but attorneys
for both sides are trying to reach a settlement, Webb said.

"A tragedy has taken place,"

Webb said. "His death did not have to occur. Regarding the Mena family
claims, I want the attorneys to give all these matters their highest
priority." Investigations into the shooting are not over, however.

The U.S. Justice Department is trying to determine whether police violated
Mena's civil rights. That investigation, prompted by complaints from Carlos
Barros, the Mexican consul general in Denver, and other Mexican officials,
is ongoing, a department spokeswoman said Friday.