2 EX-LAWMEN FOUND INNOCENT IN TORTURE CASE

Two ex-Houston lawmen accused of torturing a 15-year-old with a stun
gun in July 1996 were acquitted Monday of misdemeanor official
oppression charges.

Kevin Williams and Andy Reyna embraced supporters and relatives in
state District Judge Debbie Mantooth Stricklin's courtroom when the
two-week trial ended. Jurors deliberated about 90 minutes.

"Two years and eight months ago we knew we were not guilty and today
we proved it," Williams said."I'm glad the jury came back with the
right decision because that was the right decision to come back with.
... There's a heaven and a hell and as close as you can come to hell
is what it's been like."

Williams and Reyna, both 28, were fired by the HPD in August 1997
after they were indicted. They are appealing their dismissals.

Testimony showed the two stopped Frank Lynn Harlan, then 15, on July
15, 1996, near the corner of 27th and Columbia streets in Sunset
Heights. Reyna's uncle owned a building nearby and had complained
about it being vandalized.

The uncle previously had confronted a teen-ager he believed to be a
vandal and the officers thought Harlan matched the description of that
person. The officers were out of their patrol zone when they stopped
Harlan and told dispatchers they were working on an unrelated case.

Harlan, who had a small amount of drugs on him, says the officers
handcuffed him, threatened him, questioned him about the vandalism and
zapped him 20 to 25 times with the stun gun.

The officers released Harlan, but didn't charge him with possessing
drugs. Hours later his parents reported the incident.

However, police reports indicate that Harlan's father told police he
doubted his son's story. The defense team of Robert Moen, Clint
Greenwood and Brian Benken theorized that Harlan lied about the
incident to avoid parental discipline.

The defense also attacked Harlan's credibility by pointing out that he
had been thrown out of school for selling LSD and has been a suspect
in other criminal cases.

But prosecutor Tommy LaFon said Harlan's story was not only credible
but was backed up by another man arrested by the two officers the same
day for evading detention. That man testified that the officers had
threatened him with a stun gun.

The defense argued that Reyna and Williams had never owned or used
stun guns. The two officers did talk to Harlan and handcuffed him, the
defense said, but they did not torture him.