ARRESTS OF 2 OFFICERS AFFECT DRUG PROSECUTIONS

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A federal corruption probe that led to the arrests
of a New Haven police lieutenant and a detective has forced changes in
the prosecution of several drug prosecutions, prosecutors and defense
lawyers say.

Prosecutors say the number of criminal cases affected by the arrests
in March of Lt. William White and Detective Justen Kasperzyk is not
large, though authorities will not say how many cases are involved.

"The only answer I would give is it's not significant," said New Haven
State's Attorney Michael Dearington. "It has affected a limited number
of cases and the affect has not been dramatic."

Defense lawyers say they believe the number of cases affected by the
two police arrests is probably in the dozens.

White, 63, who led the police department's narcotics unit, has been
charged with two counts of theft of government funds and bribery
conspiracy after federal authorities said he stole thousands of
dollars planted by the FBI during sting operations.

Kasperzyk, 34, was charged with a misdemeanor count of stealing
government funds.

Three bail bondsmen also were arrested.

"As soon as that hit the news, everyone went back to their files and
looked for those names," defense lawyer Glenn Conway said.

Prosecutors have been examining potentially tainted cases, disposing
of some that might be flawed and offering deals to other defendants to
resolve cases that could be harder to prove, the New Haven Register
reported Monday.

Defense lawyer Mike Dolan said cases were thrown out if Kasperzyk or
White were key to the investigation and no other officers corroborated
their claims.

"From what I observe, the case that is exclusively handled by White or
Kasperzyk, the state has been taking very favorable action, generally
nolling those cases," he said.

Supervisory Assistant Public Defender Joan Leonard said she and her
lawyers have been separating out cases in which the two former
officers had even peripheral roles. Supervisory assistant state's
attorney David Strollo told the public defenders to bring to him cases
with which they were concerned, Leonard said.

The arrests were the result of an eight-month investigation by federal
and state authorities that included about 200 taped conversations
involving White, a 39-year police veteran, and others recorded by an
undercover officer and two months of phone wiretaps.