SLAIN INFORMANT'S MOM AWARDED $98 MILLION

WASHINGTON (AP) - A jury ruled Wednesday that the District of Columbia
Police Department and four of its officers must pay a mother $98 million in
damages for the death of her son, a police informant.

"I'm relieved that it's over, and I hope that it makes a difference," said
Terry Butera, who had sought $115 million.

The ruling came two days after the D.C. District Court ruled that police
negligence led to Eric Butera's death. Jurors also ruled that police
violated the civil rights of Mr. Butera and his mother.

The Police Department declined to comment on the ruling. "It's our
understanding that the corporation counsel is reviewing this matter and may
very well appeal that decision," the department said in a prepared
statement. "As a result, we are not at liberty to address the matter at this
time."

Mr. Butera, 31, was robbed and beaten to death on Dec. 4, 1997, while
assisting police with an undercover investigation into a triple killing at a
Starbucks coffee shop in Georgetown.

Mr. Butera, a waiter trying to overcome a history of drug abuse, volunteered
to assist police after telling them that he had overheard people talking
about the killings while he was buying drugs in a row house in southwest
Washington.

Police asked him to make another drug buy there, so they could get a search
warrant. They gave him $80 and a ride to the house on the night of Dec. 4, 1997.

Mr. Butera was attacked, robbed and killed before he could even get inside.

Lawyers for Ms. Butera argued that police put her son in an extremely
dangerous situation and failed to protect him.

Police sent him in without surveillance equipment and didn't learn that he
had been attacked until 40 minutes afterward, when someone called 911.

"Eric had been repeatedly told that he would be protected," said Ms.
Butera's attorney, Peter C. Grenier. "That was fraudulent. They lied to him."

Jurors agreed and said they hoped their verdict would deliver a message to
police.

The people Mr. Butera heard talking about the Starbucks killings were not
involved in that case, police said. Another man, Carl Derick Cooper, was
arrested in March and charged with killing three Starbucks employees during
a botched robbery.