OREGON DRUG RAID DETAILED

Testimony is first light shed by ex-officer on shooting

The narcotics investigation that led to the death of Pedro Oregon
Navarro turned sour when his brother bolted from police officers,
leading them to believe he was either going for a gun or about to
destroy evidence, jurors were told Wednesday.

Former Houston police Officer James Willis, 29, testified in the third
day of his misdemeanor criminal trespass trial. It marked the first
time one of the six officers involved in the July 12 shooting has
spoken publicly.

He told the jury in Harris County Criminal Court-at-Law Judge Neel
Richardson's court that the actions of Rogelio Oregon are what led
police to enter his southwest Houston apartment the night Pedro Oregon
died.

Willis, the only one of the six officers charged, said the plan was to
get consent to search the apartment from Rogelio Oregon since the
police had no search warrant. But, he said, the situation at the front
door deteriorated when Rogelio Oregon ran into a dark living room.

That, Willis testified, voided the need to get consent.

"You can't ever assume that there's not going to be a weapon anywhere
you go," Willis testified. "That's just not good officer safety practice."

Prosecutor Ed Porter tried to establish during cross-examination that
the police hadn't done enough legwork on the case before going to the
apartment and that they had relied too heavily on an informant
arrested earlier for being drunk. He even hinted that the illegal
entry was perhaps planned or, at the very least, so poorly executed
that a frightened Rogelio Oregon would have no choice but to run from
officers.

Willis denied that, saying: "I believe everybody understood what was
to happen and everybody understood what was going to go on. ... I did
not want a disaster to happen at that door."

Wednesday was the first time that prosecutors and defense attorney
Brian Benken could get down to the nuts and bolts of the trespass
case. The first two days of trial were consumed with attempts by
Rogelio Oregon's attorneys to keep him from testifying.

Richardson ruled Tuesday that Oregon could invoke his Fifth Amendment
right against self-incrimination, essentially killing an offer of "use
immunity" from prosecutors that would have compelled him to testify in
Willis' case.

Oregon's attorneys argued that they feared prosecutors would indict
their client on perjury charges if his testimony was inconsistent with
what he had previously told a state grand jury. Perjury is not covered
by "use immunity," and prosecutors opted not to call Oregon in front
of jurors.

The Oregon family's attorneys, who are representing them in a
multimillion-dollar federal civil rights lawsuit against the city,
have said the dead man's kin would rather cooperate with an ongoing
federal probe into the shooting. They also have suggested the state

prosecution of Willis is just a vehicle to vindicate the officers and
bolster positions that prosecutors have taken on the shooting. Porter
has denied that.

Willis took jurors through the night of July 11, when he and his
partner arrested Ryan Baxter, 28, who was driving around with two
teen-agers. Previous testimony showed the trio had been drinking beer
and smoking crack cocaine that Baxter says he bought from Rogelio
Oregon earlier that night.

Baxter told jurors Tuesday he bought drugs from Rogelio, Pedro and a
third Oregon brother at least three times a week for three years, a
contention supporters of the Oregon family angrily scoff at, despite
phone records that confirm Baxter's association with the brothers.

Both Willis and Baxter have said that Baxter offered to lead them to
Rogelio Oregon in exchange for his freedom.

Willis said Wednesday he thought Baxter was credible because he wasn't
the average crack addict, and his credibility was helped by the ease
in which he contacted Rogelio Oregon.

But Willis acknowledged that Baxter couldn't give the officers, all
members of a gang task force, enough information for a warrant to
search Rogelio Oregon's apartment. Two attempts to stage drug buys
that night failed.

A third attempt was made, and Baxter and Willis said Rogelio Oregon
agreed to deliver 10 rocks of crack to Baxter at the apartment. That's
when police went to the Oregon apartment for a second time early July
12.

Willis testified the plan was for Baxter to knock on the door and then
get out of the way so the officers could approach Rogelio Oregon and
get him to sign a consent form.

But it didn't happen that way, Willis said. Baxter went to the floor
in the open doorway, and Rogelio Oregon saw Willis and his partner
approach.

"(Rogelio) sees us. (He) makes eye contact, looks right at us and in
that same split second, he runs," Willis said. "Obviously, there had
just been a phone conversation and a drug transaction has been agreed
on. In my mind, (Rogelio) was running for a weapon or to destroy the
dope."

That, Benken said later, created the circumstances that gave the
police legal justification to enter the apartment without consent or a
warrant.

Porter hinted during his cross-examination that it was ludicrous to
expect Rogelio Oregon to give consent when Baxter is dropping to the
floor in front of him and police are on his heels.

In essence, Porter suggested, the officers were trying to create a
situation where they scared Rogelio Oregon into running so they could
enter the apartment legally. To make the point, he noted that Willis
has received extensive training in when and how police are allowed to
enter private homes.

Willis said he followed his partner inside to back him up and secure
Rogelio Oregon. Then, the other officers entered. Willis and his
partner stayed in the front part of the house because another occupant
tried to flee.

The other officers went to the back of the apartment, and that's when
the shooting started. Prosecutors have said one officer fired his
weapon when he saw Pedro Oregon with a gun. That officer's shot hit a
partner, but the other lawmen thought Pedro Oregon had fired. They
fired on him, hitting Pedro Oregon 12 times, nine in the back.

Some of the officers always have contended that Pedro Oregon pointed a
gun at them. He did have a gun, but it was not fired and no drugs were
found in the apartment.

Baxter testified previously that the Oregon brothers sometimes kept
their drugs stashed outside.

Willis said that when the shooting started, he sought cover in the
kitchen and his partner eventually went to help the other officers.
Willis did not fire a shot or join the others because he was covering
the two men in the living room.

He told jurors he still was shaken from the incident and suffering
from a lack of sleep later that morning when he gave homicide
detectives an incomplete statement leaving out details he later gave
authorities.

"Everybody was shaken up," Willis said. "It had gone to total
chaos."

Closing arguments will start at 8:15 a.m. today.