S.F. POT CASE TOSSED AS VIDEO CONTRADICTS POLICE

A San Francisco judge dismissed marijuana trafficking allegations
Wednesday after finding a videotape contradicted officers' account of
a drug search at a suspect's Richmond District apartment.

In the latest case in which video appeared to undermine police
testimony, Superior Court Judge Gerardo Sandoval issued his dismissal
order after a three-day preliminary hearing on drug dealing charges
lodged against McLaren Wenzell, 23, stemming from the March 1 police
search and seizure of 4 pounds of marijuana.

Sandoval cited inconsistencies in the police accounts with the videotape.

The case has strong similarities to the scandal unfolding against
eight Southern Station officers, who have been reassigned from a
plainclothes detail after videotapes appeared to contradict their
accounts of several drug raids in a Tenderloin single room occupancy hotel.

So far, that scandal has triggered dismissal of 76 cases as well as
an ongoing FBI probe.

District Attorney George Gascon issued a statement late Wednesday
saying that he acted promptly when the earlier allegations surfaced,
but stressed that this case is different.

"It is our assertion that the relevant evidence shows an interaction
that corroborates the testimony provided," he said.

In the latest incident, three Richmond Station plainclothes officers
asserted in police reports that Wenzell agreed to let them search his
Richmond District apartment. Wenzell said Wednesday that he never
gave the officers permission, but simply went into his unit without
saying one way or other.

The officers recounted that they were answering a report of a
possible marijuana grow operation inside the building on 33rd Avenue
and Geary Boulevard when they encountered Wenzell as he came out of the unit.

They said that they had their stars visible outside their clothing
when they talked to Wenzell, who admitted having a small amount of
marijuana, showed them his prescription note and then let them in 30
seconds after he went back inside his unit.

Public Defender Jeff Adachi, accompanied by Wenzell's defense
attorney, Robert Amparan, played the surveillance tape at a press
conference, pointing out that the tape clearly showed the officers
did not have their stars visible as they entered the underground
garage and as they walked down the hall toward Wenzell's unit.

They said it appeared that rather than waiting for Wenzell to go
inside his unit and give them permission to enter, the officers
simply followed him in from the hallway.

"The testimony (of the sergeant at the scene) was proven to be untrue
in several critical respects," Adachi said at the press conference.
"Based on the videotaped evidence presented in court and the
testimony of the sergeant in court, Judge Sandoval dismissed the
case, finding that the testimony was not credible and was not
supported by the evidence."

Amparan said the sergeant who led the operation had trouble answering
questions about the basis of the raid given the tape and the
statements in police reports. "They said they obtained consent," he
said. "But as the testimony showed the officers were not truthful."