WHEN THE GOOD GUYS GO BAD

Case Turns Law Enforcement Upside Down

Even in metro Detroit, an area long familiar with staggering levels
of dope trafficking, Inkster cops earned high-fives all around when
they grabbed 47 kilos of cocaine back in 2005.

But now that seizure from a Texas narcotics pipeline -- one of the
largest local narcotics busts this area has seen -- has turned the
regular law enforcement roles upside down, with the state now
expecting to seek felony charges against the cops and the trial
prosecutor. The trial judge also may be named in a criminal warrant
request brought after a nine-month investigation by the Michigan
Attorney General's Office.

The original drug cases against Alexander Aceval and Ricardo Pena
were ruined, authorities contend, by the cops' false testimony that a
key witness had no prior contact with Inkster police. The man, who
also testified falsely, was actually a paid police informant, a fact
shielded from jurors and defense lawyers.

Aceval and Pena pleaded guilty to drug charges after the lies were exposed.

Lawyers involved in or familiar with the state's perjury
investigation said Monday that former Wayne County Assistant
Prosecutor Karen Plants and Inkster Sgt. Scott Rechtzigel and Officer
Robert McArthur said they've been told the state is seeking charges
of perjury, obstruction of justice and conspiracy against them. The
judge who heard the 2005 drug prosecution, Wayne County Circuit Judge
Mary Waterstone, who has retired, could also be named as a defendant
for learning of the false testimony from Plants, but allowing jurors
to hear it anyway.

People familiar with the investigation said the exact charges being
sought could change by the time they are filed. It is also possible,
said one, that the state could decide at the last moment not to
charge one or more of the four.

In a private meeting in which they produced a transcript, the
prosecutor and judge agreed that it was OK for the cops and the
informant to lie under oath about being a police informant to ensure
the informant's safety.

Lawyers for the drug defendants, however, complained the deception
prevented them from seeking to discredit the witness' testimony, such
as by exploring whether the witness might have lied about their
clients to ensure being paid by police.

One of Plants' lawyers, Kenneth Mogill, said the former prosecutor is
innocent: "Karen Plants is not guilty of any crime."

If the attorney general brings any charges against Plants, they are
the result of the system run amok," Mogill said.

Detroit lawyer Ben Gonek said Monday that he also represents Plants,
but declined further comment.

Waterstone did not return calls seeking comment.

Steven Bullock, Rechtzigel's lawyer, said Monday that he'd been told
by the Attorney General's Office that felony charges were
forthcoming, but would not discuss his talks with state officials.

Bullock said he could comment "until I see the actual charging document."

Attorney Douglas Gutscher, representing McArthur, also said he spoke
with the Attorney General's Office on Monday, but declined to elaborate.

Court computers on Monday listed possible charges being sought by the
attorney general, but the entries were later taken down. However,
Bullock and others said were told to prepare for felony charges,
perhaps as soon as today.

The Attorney General's Office and Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, declined to comment Monday.

The possible charges grow out of the efforts to shield Chad Povish's
role as a paid informant for the Inkster police who tipped them off
about Pena and Aceval.

At trial, the officers said they didn't know Povish. In private
meetings with Waterstone, Plants admitted the false testimony, and
the two agreed that it was necessary to protect Povish.

Defense attorneys did not know about the meetings and could have
undercut Povish's credibility if they'd known his real role as a paid
informant. Appellate lawyer Gerald Lorence uncovered transcripts of
the secret meetings, and the Prosecutor's Office filed an admission
of error in 2006, conceding there was "possibly false or misleading testimony."

Last year, professional misconduct charges were leveled against
Plants for using the false testimony. She was suspended with pay by
the prosecutor's office, which then asked for a criminal probe.

The criminal investigation was turned over to the Attorney General's
Office in June 2008 after the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said
it would be a conflict of interest for it to investigate.

The misconduct charges, which could result in discipline as severe as
the removal of her law license, are still pending against Plants, who
retired from the prosecutor's office in February.