POLICE PERJURY CHARGES LIKELY

Feb. 4 - The special prosecutor investigating the Denver no-knock raid
that left a man dead is "poised to file perjury charges" against the
police officer whose warrant led to the fatal shooting, an attorney
said Thursday.

In addition, no charges will be filed against the two SWAT officers
who fired nine shots at Ismael Mena in a bedroom during the Sept. 29
raid, attorney Robert Maes said he was told Wednesday by the special
prosecutor, Jefferson County District Attorney Dave Thomas.

Thomas is scheduled to release his report at 2 p.m.
today.

Maes said Thomas told him officer Joseph Bini's request for a search
warrant contained flawed or inaccurate information.

The warrant alleged 45-year-old Ismael Mena's home was a drug
house.

Thomas also confirmed to Maes that police raided the wrong house,
although the warrant clearly identified the Mena home in north Denver.
Maes represents the Mena family in a potential lawsuit against the
city.

"He wouldn't say what was perjurious, but that it was their strong
inclination to indict Bini, that he is poised to file perjury
charges," Maes said of the hour-long meeting. "He wasn't firm about
filing the charges (today), but they're strongly thinking about doing
it soon." Bini could not be reached for comment, but his attorney,
David Bruno, said he was unaware of any possible charges. Thomas'
spokeswoman, Pam Russell, refused comment.

To get a judge to grant the warrant on Mena's house at 3738 High St.,
Bini signed an affidavit saying he used a reliable informant to make a
drug buy there.

But the affidavit also says Bini dropped off the informant four blocks
away. The warrant describes a $20 crack purchase between his informant
and two men at the house but doesn't say whether Bini witnessed any of
those transactions or meetings, as other drug-related search warrant
applications often do.

No drugs were found and no arrests were made from the
raid.

Thomas is expected to reveal whether the warrant was obtained legally
and, once carried out, whether SWAT officers acted properly.

Maes said the report will show that the city's policy on no-knock
raids - search warrants where police can crash through the door
without warning - is flawed.

"The report confirms that the city has policies that are deliberately
indifferent to the value of human life," Maes said. Bini, who joined
the force in early 1995, was inadequately supervised and trained, Maes
said the report will show.

The findings are expected to cause widespread concern among local
Hispanics, especially the grassroots Justice for Mena Committee, which
has scheduled a demonstration Saturday in front of the Denver City and
County Building to protest the report. The committee maintains Mena
was unarmed and that police covered up their mistake.

The father of nine was shot at least six times by two officers. Police
claim they fired at Mena after he pointed a small-caliber handgun at
them, refused to drop the gun when officers ordered him to, and fired
first.

Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter asked for a special prosecutor
after he revealed his chief investigator, Tom Haney, is the brother of
Mark Haney, one of the SWAT officers who fired on Mena.

An autopsy reveals that Mena had no drugs or alcohol in his system and
died from a gunshot wound to the head.

None of the officers involved in the raid was hurt, and police search
warrants show a .22-caliber handgun and three spent shells were
retrieved from the house. It is unclear whether the gun belonged to
Mena.

Maes did not say whether Thomas determined whether Mena was armed. He
said he will press the city to negotiate a settlement with the Mena
family, most of whom live in Mexico.

Maes said he joined Denver based Mexican consul general Carlos Barros
to hear Thomas' report. Barros said he was flying to Mexico to deliver
the prosecutor's findings to "high-level officials" so they could
determine their response.

Barros would not identify the officials.

Barros' complaints to Colorado U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland prompted a
civil-rights investigation into the shooting by the Justice
Department. That probe is ongoing.

Also Thursday, Police Chief Tom Sanchez said an internal investigation
found no criminal wrongdoing that high-ranking police officials
meddled in the investigation. An officer accused her bosses of
pressuring her to create a paper trail to make it look like Mena's
house had a history of community complaints before the deadly raid.

However, Sanchez did not say whether the accused officers will avoid
administrative discipline, according to a 9News report.