TENTATIVE PACT GIVES FAMILY $5 MILLION FOR BOTCHED RAID THAT LEFT
MILLIONAIRE DEAD

LOS ANGELES - The family of a millionaire shot to death at his Malibu ranch
during a controversial 1992 drug raid that turned up no drugs will get $5
million under a tentative agreement with the county and federal government.

Donald P. Scott's survivors contended authorities staged the 1992 raid to
seize the secluded $5 million ranch under drug forfeiture laws. The
200-acre property is in Ventura County.

Scott, 61, was shot to death by a Los Angeles deputy when he emerged from
his bedroom armed with a pistol, still sleepy and slightly drunk. The
shooting was held to be justifiable since Deputy Gary Spencer was in fear
for his life.

But Ventura County District Attorney Michael Bradbury investigated the raid
and concluded Spencer used false information to secure a warrant to search
the 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 (Los Angeles County) Sheriff's
Department."

Officials deny those charges, but said they agreed to settle a civil rights
lawsuit filed by Scott's family because they feared jurors would not
believe government agents.

Dennis Gonzales, principal deputy county counsel, said sheriff's officials
were particularly concerned about fallout from the Rampart station scandal
at the Los Angeles Police Department.

In that highly publicized case, a former LAPD gang officer has said he and
colleagues framed and sometimes shot innocent people.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Sheriff's Department, the
lead agency in the raid on the Scott ranch, were both named in the lawsuit.

Under terms of the tentative settlement outlined Tuesday in U.S. District
Court, the county will pay $4 million and the federal government will pay
$1 million. All suits against the government stemming from the raid will
then be dropped.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Sullivan declined to comment on reasons for
the settlement, which must be approved by the Interior Department, Drug
Enforcement Administration and the Board of Supervisors.

Government lawyers told U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian that approval
was expected within 90 days.

The plaintiffs - Scott's wife Frances, four children and his estate - will
split the proceeds in a formula yet to be determined.

Lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. said his client, Mrs. Scott, who saw her
husband killed and later lost her home to a fire, now lives in "a teepee"
on the property and is trying to hold off government claims to seize it for
unpaid taxes.