'SOONER OR LATER THE TRUTH WILL COME OUT'

When Javier Francisco Ovando was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in
prison, the mother of his unborn child wept in the courtroom.

The police officers who allegedly framed him--after paralyzing him with a
bullet--"sat there and laughed," his daughter's grandmother, Gloria Romero,
said Thursday.

Romero said that she told Los Angeles police Officer Rafael A. Perez, who
has told prosecutors he and his partner handcuffed and shot Ovando in the
head: "God will punish you. Sooner or later the truth will come out."

Few could have imagined that her prophecy would become a curse.

In the worst LAPD scandal in decades, Perez has entered a plea bargain for
theft of cocaine and told authorities that he and his partner lied under
oath about Ovando's guilt. Ovando was freed Thursday from Salinas Valley
State Prison.

Ovando, 22, probably will never walk again--but now he will enjoy his first
sight of his daughter, Destiny, whose mother, Monique Valenzuela, was just
a few months pregnant when Ovando was imprisoned, Romero said.

Destiny is 2½ years old.

"I'm very happy," Valenzuela told a reporter. "It's a miracle. I never
thought he would get out."

Ovando told Romero he lived "only for his daughter" during his nearly three
years in prison. "Otherwise he wouldn't want to live," she said.

Federal authorities announced Thursday that they too are investigating
Perez's allegation that he and his then-partner, LAPD Officer Nino Durden,
lied in October 1996 when they said they shot Ovando after he burst in on
them with an assault-style weapon.

Perez now says that Ovando, then 19, was unarmed when he was shot by
police. Perez said officers planted the weapon on Ovando and fabricated the
police report.

In allegations filed in court, Ovando said officers had him in handcuffs
when they shot him, and later planted the rifle.

When Ovando was sentenced to 23 years in prison, Superior Court Judge
Stephen Czuleger noted that the defendant, who was in a wheelchair, failed
to show remorse.

Why would he? Romero asked, when he stubbornly maintained his innocence.
She recalled him wondering: "I'm in jail--for what? I didn't do anything.
I'm in a wheelchair and I'm here for 23 years."

Romero said she felt powerless when Ovando was convicted and that her
daughter Monique was hysterical.

"We had no lawyer and no money," Romero said. "We were all alone. We just
had faith in God. We always knew he was innocent."

The only witness to the shooting was a member of the 18th Street gang,
according to a close family friend, Angela Taylor, who said she and Ovando
were also members of the gang.

"The homeboys wanted to say something," Taylor said. "But they couldn't.
Who would believe 18th Street gang members?"

Taylor said Perez often stopped 18th Street gang members, taking their
money and sometimes beating them.

Romero said Ovando, an illegal immigrant long out of touch with his family
back in Honduras, was not a violent man, although he was a member of the
feared gang.

"I understand he was a gang member," Romero said. "But he wasn't crazy. He
wasn't a bad guy."

Ovando has been deported from the United States twice, the district
attorney's office said.

Immigration and Naturalization Service officials declined to take Ovando
into custody Thursday for deportation so he could be available to the Los
Angeles Police Department. LAPD officers picked him up from the prison at
dinner time Thursday.

"It's obvious that he will be needed as a material witness," said Richard
Rosenthal, a deputy Los Angeles district attorney. "I would expect the LAPD
will take whatever action necessary to make sure he's available to us as a
witness some time in the future."

Attorney Dennis Chang, representing Ovando's daughter and her mother, said
he had tried to arrange a family reunion with Ovando on Thursday night. But
by 10 p.m., he said, the LAPD had vetoed the event, saying Ovando was too
tired.

"They're not allowing Javier to talk with the mother of his child," Chang
said. "My plan tonight was to have this reunification. They're telling us
to wait until the morning."

LAPD spokesman Don Cox said he didn't know who had talked to Chang.

"I don't know where he got that," Cox said. "I don't know where [Ovando] is
or if he's tired."

In spite of repeated requests from The Times and other media, Terry
Thornton of the California Department of Corrections said prison officials
reported that Ovando "did not express any desire" to be interviewed at this
time.