JUDGE DISMISSES 10 MORE CASES; RELEASES PRISONER WHO SERVED THREE YEARS

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- In the latest aftershock from a scandal that has shaken
Los Angeles, a judge Tuesday dismissed 10 drug and weapons convictions
because they were tainted by police corruption.

That brought to 22 the number of cases thrown out because of police
misconduct.

The scandal is "the most important case I have seen this office handle in my
31 years here. It goes to the heart of the criminal justice system," said
Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti, who sought the
dismissals.

Garcetti said his office probably will seek reversal of another two to three
dozen cases contaminated by false testimony and the planting of evidence.

Paul Thompson, 34, had his conviction overturned and was ordered immediately
freed from prison. He has served half of a six-year sentence for being a
felon in possession of a firearm.

Disgraced former LAPD officer Rafael Perez has admitted he testified falsely
during Thompson's trial.

Thompson plans to sue but remains fearful of police, said his attorney,
Carlos Spiga.

"He's afraid the police will try to dirty him up and compromise any civil
action," Spiga told reporters.

Also reversed was the drug conviction of Octavio Davalos. The 41-year-old
upholstery worker served 91 days and received three years of probation after
pleading guilty to possessing and selling cocaine and marijuana. Perez has
said he falsified the police report.

"I was never guilty of nothing," Davalos told reporters. He said he agreed
to a plea bargain because he was threatened with eight years in prison.

"I have to support my family," he said.

Davalos' lawyer told Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler his client would
like to recover expenses in connection with the case. Fidler said a civil
lawyer would surely be able to advise him.

"Since you are the first person present on this matter, the court's
apologies," the judge told Davalos.

One man who had a drug charged dismissed will face continued legal problems.
Juan Carlos Suares, 24, is in custody of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, facing possible deportation.

Perez said he and his former partner, Nino Durden, planted rock cocaine on
Suares.

Most of the cases reversed Tuesday involved defendants who pleaded guilty or
no contest in return for probation or short prison sentences. Perez admitted
that he and his former partner, Nino Durden, planted evidence in the cases
or lied in police reports.

The scandal, the worst for LAPD in decades, has centered on an anti-gang
unit in the LAPD's Rampart Division. Twenty officers have either resigned or
been suspended.

Perez, a former Rampart anti-gang officer, pleaded guilty to stealing
evidence cocaine from a police locker. He has been cooperating with the
corruption probe in an attempt to lighten his sentence.

Durden has not been charged in the scandal, but Garcetti said he is under
investigation.

Others against whom charges were dismissed were Hugo Madrid, 26, who pleaded
guilty to a firearms charge; Manuel Guardado, 26, who pleaded guilty to a
drug charge; Blanca Sahagun 31, and Carlos Antononio Carranza, 27, who
pleaded no contest to drug charges; Margo Leticia Lopez, 56, who pleaded
guilty to a drug charge and her son, Luis Manuel Flores, 26, who pleaded
guilty to a weapons charge; and Jose Armando Lara, 24, who pleaded guilty to
a firearms charge.

Another defendant, Juan Torrecillas, was brought into court in handcuffs at
the end of the hearing. Prosecutors said his jailing for probation
violations was currently under investigation in connection with the scandal.

"Certainly we're going to release him immediately," Fidler said, but he
ordered a later hearing to determine if his conviction should be dismissed.