SUIT ALLEGES CONSPIRACY IN MENA'S DEATH

A retired FBI agent filed a federal lawsuit Thursday, alleging a conspiracy
to cover up the deliberate murder of a Mexican immigrant who was killed in
September 1999 when Denver police raided the wrong house.

The suit, filed by James F. Kearney in U.S. District Court, contends that
SWAT officers, police commanders, prosecutors, a coroner, police union
officials and their lawyers all took part in a wide conspiracy to conceal
the truth.

That truth, Kearney says, is that SWAT officers shot and killed Ismael Mena
minutes after realizing they had stormed his bedroom by mistake. He claims
they planted a "throw-down" gun in Mena's hand that they had fired.

Police were attempting to raid a suspected crack house that actually was
next door to the house where Mena lived.

"The corrupt conspiracy continues," the suit alleges. It claims that Capt.
Juan Maldonado confided to two prominent Hispanic community leaders that he
resisted efforts by unnamed SWAT officers to plant drugs at the scene.

Maldonado could not be reached for comment Thursday night, but a police
spokeswoman disputed the allegation.

"I can tell you that any allegation of planting evidence at any scene is
outrageous and absurd," said spokeswoman Virginia Lopez.

Kearney first raised his allegations after he was hired as an investigator
by the Mena family.

The Police Protective Association and several SWAT officers sued Kearney
and talk show host Peter Boyles after the former FBI agent aired his
allegations on KHOW-AM.

Boyles and the radio station settled the lawsuit. Kearney was dismissed as
a defendant.

Now he is seeking damages for humiliation he claims he suffered from a
lawsuit he contends was intended to silence him.

On Thursday, critics of the Police Department called for a federal takeover
of the department.

"It's outrageous. It's amazing that this has gotten this far," said LeRoy
Lemos, spokesman for the Justice for Mena Committee, a community group
seeking answers in the case of the botched drug raid.

"The bullets that were in Mr. Mena's chest prove murder," Lemos said.

Kearney contends that two gunshot wounds in the chest line up with two
bullets retrieved from the floor. He contends they had to have been shot
point blank, straight down into the body.

He also cited the fact that gunshot residue from the SWAT weapons was found
on Mena's hands as proof that police planted a weapon.

But a spokeswoman for Jefferson County District Attorney Dave Thomas, the
special prosecutor in the case, said his findings disputed that theory.

Pam Russell said Mena's clothing and wounds showed no sign of any
point-blank shooting.

She also said the presence of gunshot residue from the SWAT officers'
weapons found on Mena's hands is inconsequential.