NINE CONVICTIONS REVERSED DUE TO L.A.P.D. SCANDAL

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A judge dismissed the convictions of seven adults and
two juveniles on Tuesday, the latest criminal cases reversed as the result
of a police corruptions scandal in which officers are accused of framing
innocent people.

The latest dismissals included the first cases not directlyl involving
former police Officer Rafael Perez who broke the scandal open with his
allegations that officers at the city's Rampart Division fabricated
evidence and lied in court to win convictions on phony charges. In some
cases, he said, innocent people were even shot.

They brought to 32 the number of cases reversed as the result of an ongoing
investigation into the Rampart Division and the anti-gang unit there where
Perez worked. Convicted of stealing cocaine from an evidence locker, Perez
is cooperating with investigators in hopes of obtaining a lighter sentence.

Several current or former Los Angeles Police Department officers were named
in court documents on Tuesday as being implicated by Perez, for misconduct
including planted evidence and false assertations of being giving pemission
to search apartments.