TENTATIVE $5-MILLION PACT REACHED IN FATAL DRUG RAID

Court: L.A. County, U.S. Would Pay The Money To Survivors Of A Ventura
County Man Killed At His Ranch In 1992.

Los Angeles County and the United States government have tentatively agreed
to pay $5 million to the survivors of Donald P. Scott, reclusive heir to a
European chemical fortune, who was shot to death when he was surprised by
police during a controversial 1992 drug raid that turned up no drugs on his
isolated ranch. Scott's survivors have long maintained that law enforcement
agents conducted the raid primarily because they were hoping to seize the
200-acre ranch, just across the Ventura County line from Malibu. They
allege that agents falsified information to obtain a search warrant, hoping
to find enough drugs to justify selling the ranch under federal drug asset
forfeiture laws that would allow their agencies to keep the profits from
such confiscations.

Officials deny those charges, but agreed to settle, they said, because they
are not confident that civil jurors would believe what government agents say.

"We have to be realistic in the marketplace of today," said Dennis
Gonzales, principal deputy Los Angeles County counsel, who represents the
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the lead agency in the raid.
Gonzales said sheriff's officials were particularly concerned about fallout
from the Rampart scandal at the Los Angeles Police Department. A former
LAPD gang officer assigned to Rampart Division says he and colleagues
framed and sometimes shot innocent people.

Under the terms of the tentative settlement, outlined Tuesday to U.S.
District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian, Los Angeles County will pay $4
million. The United States government will pay $1 million. All suits
against the government stemming from the raid will be dropped.

Assistant U.S. Atty. James Sullivan declined to comment on reasons for the
settlement, which must be approved by the Interior Department, Drug
Enforcement Administration and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
But government lawyers told the court they expect approval within 90 days.

The plaintiffs--Scott's wife, four children and his estate--will split the
proceeds in a formula yet to be determined. Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran
Jr., who represents Scott's wife, Frances, said that his client, who saw
her husband killed and later lost her home to a fire, now lives in "a
tepee" on the property and is trying to hold off government claims to seize
it for unpaid taxes.

Scott, 61, was shot to death by the deputy who led planning for the raid
when he emerged sleepy and drunk from his bedroom and allegedly pointed a
pistol at the officer.

The shooting was held to be justifiable since Deputy Gary Spencer was in
fear for his life. But Spencer's right to be in Scott's house was questioned.

Ventura County prosecutor Michael Bradbury--in whose jurisdiction the raid
occurred--investigated and concluded that Spencer, a veteran narcotics
officer with a clean record, used false information to secure a warrant to
search Scott's ranch for marijuana plants.

"There was no marijuana on that place," Bradbury said. "Clearly one of the
primary purposes was a land grab by the Sheriff's Department."

Spencer said he had heard from an informant that 3,000 to 4,000 marijuana
plants were growing on Scott's ranch. Responding angrily, then-Los Angeles
County Sheriff Sherman Block issued a report of his own, defending the
agents and condemning Bradbury for grandstanding. Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren
backed Block, and Spencer, asserting he had done nothing wrong, sued
Bradbury for libel. But his case was thrown out of court.