MIAMI POLICE CORRUPTION TRIAL HEADED TO JURY

Federal prosecutors charge bad cops planted guns on the unarmed
victims of four police shootings, and their police buddies covered it
up. The officers' defenders say it never happened and it wasn't proven
during a 10-week trial.

Jurors will be asked this week to decide the corruption case involving
11 Miami officers who face possible 10-year prison sentences and loss
of their careers. None of the defendants testified, but two officers
on their special teams broke the police "code of silence."

Back at the station, the Miami Police Department has a new chief and
new policies after years of rubber-stamping police shootings as
justified in spite of brewing community outrage.

Police shootings, beatings or acquittals in Miami triggered riots or
smaller street clashes six times from 1980 to 1995. The indictment
covers shootings from 1995 to 1997 and is the city's worst police
scandal since the 1980s when the so-called "Miami River Cops" stole
cocaine from drug traffickers and sold the drug themselves. More than
100 officers were arrested, fired or disciplined.

"From a purely community viewpoint, the best thing would be to have
this over," said attorney Joe Serota, who helped nominate a new
civilian police review board. "It has I think raised real concerns
about the credibility of the police and the ability of the police to
internally root out corrupt cops."

The judge has asked attorneys not to discuss the case, and they have
not made any comments since the trial began.

The star prosecution witnesses were two former insiders, now-retired
officers who pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy charge against the
others.

The defense attacked them as witnesses more interested in staying out
of jail and keeping their pensions than telling the truth. If jurors
reject their testimony, the defense believes the government's case
will fall apart.

The strongest turncoat, John Mervolion, is a 300-pound hulk who other
officers consider a disruptive, dishonest snitch. The other, William
Hames, is an alcoholic who quit drinking after holding a gun on a bus
driver in a drunken blackout.

During the trial, Mervolion testified that he saw Officer Jesse Aguero
drop a handgun after the shooting of a homeless man and held a gun for
Aguero that turned up after a purse-snatching.

Mervolion and Hames were among the officers who killed two fleeing
tourist robbers.

Hames said he concocted a story and shared it with four defendants at
a barbecue lunch the next day to cover the "stupid" planting of guns
after what he considered the legally justifiable shooting of fleeing
felons. Hames also testified that Aguero later gave him a civilian gun
to clean down to the smallest parts.

The fourth shooting rests on circumstantial evidence and the
conflicting testimony of the survivor. Drug suspect Richard Brown, 72,
died in a 123-shot volley as his 14-year-old great-granddaughter
cowered a few feet away on the bathroom floor of their apartment. The
four defendants who fired didn't realize she was there until she
stumbled through the gun smoke.

In all, three men died, the homeless man was wounded, and the
purse-snatcher escaped injury when Aguero fired at him three times.

Investigators traced two of the five handguns that were allegedly
planted to the arrests of small-time drug dealers by the defendants.
The victims' fingerprints were not on any of the guns. A partial print
from Aguero was on the gun found after the shooting of the homeless
man, Daniel Hoban.

Art Beguiristain, the only officer accused in all four shootings, once
said he wanted "kick-ass cops" to respond to the shooting of Hoban, a
schizophrenic alcoholic.

The phrase reinforces the idea that the trial is a world away from the
humdrum existence of ticket-writing patrol officers. The defendants,
all Hispanic officers in a Hispanic majority city, were assigned to
elite undercover teams targeting robbers or street drugs or were part
of the high-powered SWAT team.

The trial has fed more than two decades of police distrust, a chronic
problem that will take more than the trial and a new police chief to
correct, said the Rev. Willie Sims, a staff member on Miami-Dade
County's community relations board.

"You can believe it's going to take more than a chief to change that,"
he said. "It's going to take actions by the entire
department."

Jury selection began the same day former Philadelphia police chief
John Timoney became chief in Miami. He said it was "critically
important" to support officers doing the right thing but stressed
"there must be no safe harbor" for wrongdoers.

Police spokesman Angel Calzadilla said the chief would not comment on
the trial until it's over and then will "address it fully and openly."

At that point, the department will resume its internal investigation
of the 10 defendants on paid suspension. Aguero has been fired.

"It is possible to be found innocent by a court of law and still have
rough going keeping your job," said Lt. Bill Schwartz, a department
spokesman. "The investigative board would send findings to the chief.
The chief is always the last word."