DEFENSE LAWYER URGES DA TO DELAY SENTENCING FOR DISGRACED OFFICER PEREZ

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A defense lawyer urged District Attorney Gil
Garcetti to delay sentencing for disgraced officer Rafael Perez, who
pleaded guilty to stealing cocaine and went on to reveal the worst
police corruption scandal in recent Los Angeles history.

Perez, a former member of an elite Rampart Division anti-gang unit,
agreed to plead guilty to stealing eight pounds of cocaine from a
police evidence locker. In exchange for the possibility of a lighter
sentence, he also agreed to divulge information about alleged
corruption by fellow Los Angeles Police Department officers, most of
whom were in the anti-gang unit with him.

"Once he's sentenced, why would he cooperate at all," said attorney
Gregory A. Yates, who represents five inmates. One of them has a Feb.
23 hearing to determine if his conviction was the result of tainted
evidence.

The Public Defender's office is reviewing about 3,500 cases in the
Police Department's worst scandal in a half century.

Victoria Pipkin, a spokeswoman for Garcetti, said a team of
prosecutors is "looking at all aspects of their case including the
sentencing of Mr. Perez."

Perez is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 25 and is expected to get five
years in prison. His sentencing already has been delayed once as
prosecutors asked for more time to interview him to determine whether
other cases and convictions in which Perez testified or had a part in
have been tainted.