PERJURER IMPERILS 6 YEARS OF CASES

Ex-Officer Linked To Public Counsel

More than 600 cases handled by the state public defender's office over the
last six years could be appealed because they were investigated by a
private detective company connected to a disgraced former Boston police
officer convicted of perjury, the chief counsel for the office said Friday.

Carlos Luna, a detective with the city's drug unit in the late 1980s who
was convicted of making up information to obtain search warrants and then
lying about it under oath, works for Scollay Square Investigations,
according to attorneys and private investigators who know him. And,
according to its chief, Scollay Square Investigations has worked on
hundreds cases for the Committee for Public Counsel Services.

William Leahy, the chief counsel for CPCS, suspended Scollay Square
Investigations from doing business with the agency July 25, when a report
began circulating that Luna - whose high-profile perjury trial in 1991
blighted the reputation of the city's police department - was connected to
the company and working as an investigator there.

Letters to 40 attorneys who used Scollay Square Investigations were mailed
Thursday, asking them why they hired a detective agency with an association
to Luna. Depending on their answers, the attorneys could be barred from
work with CPCS, Leahy said.

If Luna, 46, investigated a case and uncovered evidence that could help a
defendant, he would not have been able to effectively testify on behalf of
that defendant because of his background, Leahy said. ''It could mean that
counsel was ineffective and the convictions are invalid,'' Leahy said. ''It
could be grounds for an appeal if that person was convicted. It's something
we're very, very concerned about.''

Leahy said he doubts Luna ever testified ''because, what's the first
question a prosecutor is going to ask him?'' But Leahy said he plans to
have every case Luna may have worked on reviewed by his office.

Neither Luna nor his wife, Francesca - who is the owner of Scollay Square
Investigations - returned multiple telephone calls to their home and
business seeking comment.

Luna was a 32-year-old detective when his partner, Detective Sherman
Griffiths, was fatally shot in the head during a raid on a Dorchester
apartment in 1988. Charges of first-degree murder were dropped and then
reinstated against the alleged killer when it was discovered that Luna
invented the informant - and his testimony - to obtain a search warrant to
enter the apartment.

The alleged shooter was eventually acquitted and, 21/2 years after the
incident, Luna was convicted of 25 counts of perjury, sentenced to five
years' probation, and subsequently fired from the force.

Scollay Square Investigations began getting work from CPCS almost
immediately after it was licensed on June 25, 1996, by Francesca Luna, who
is also listed as the firm's president.

The firm was incorporated July 22, 1996. Between Sept. 6, 1996, and July
26, 2002, the company submitted 691 bills to the public defender's office
for a total of $473,062.50, according to documents from the state
comptroller's office. The pay scale for investigators at CPCS starts at $30
an hour and runs to $70 an hour.

Tom Giblin, a defense lawyer who often takes cases for the agency, said
last week that in the case of Scollay Square Investigations it's money well
spent. Giblin has used the company for more than 100 cases and worked with
Luna on several. He described Luna as a sharp investigator who was a good
cop, scapegoated by higher-ranking officers. And he characterized Leahy's
shock that Luna has been on the CPCS payroll as disingenuous. ''I've had
him on witness lists, he's signed bills, everybody at the committee knows
Carlos,'' Giblin said. ''I think CPCS is just trying to cover themselves.''

Giblin said Luna has never testified for him, but, with his client's
informed consent, he would let him.

''I have no question about Carlos's credibility whatsoever,'' Giblin said.
''Just because a guy has a felony conviction doesn't mean you should not
hire him.''

Thomas Jackson, the vice president of the Licensed Private Detectives
Association of Massachusetts, said he became aware that Luna was working
for Scollay Square Investigations soon after it was incorporated.

Jackson discouraged anyone from hiring him because of his reputation, but
said there is a shortage of good, Spanish-speaking, streetwise
investigators in Massachusetts. Luna filled that niche, Jackson said.

Bruce Carroll, an attorney who has done work for CPCS, said he also knew
that Luna was working as an investigator for CPCS and saw him in court
occasionally. Carroll said he would never hire him ''because of his past.''

But at least 40 attorneys like Giblin - all of them in private practice,
not on staff at CPCS - did hire Scollay Square Investigations, Leahy said.

''We want to know if they knew Carlos Luna was employed there, and if they
didn't know, why didn't they know,'' Leahy said.

CPCS serves defendants who can't afford an attorney. Investigators can also
be appointed by a judge to help a defense. Typically, investigators cost
about $800 per case and are recommended to a judge by the defendant's
attorney, Leahy said. Although the judge handling the case approves the
money for investigators, they do not always know who they are because they
are not necessarily named by the attorneys when a request is submitted.

If Luna is indeed working for Scollay Square Investigations, his wife's
license could be revoked, said Lieutenant Richard Cashin, commanding
officer of the Massachusetts State Police Certification Unit. When a
private detective license is issued, Cashin said, only the background of
the person applying for the license is checked. Employees of the company
don't have to be licensed private detectives, but by law a license-holder
cannot hire anyone with a felony conviction.

''There are a lot of companies that slip through the cracks,'' Cashin said.

When told that Luna appeared to be working illegally, Giblin said he wasn't
familiar with that law.

''If CPCS says not to use him anymore, I won't use him,'' Giblin said.
''But I will use him in private investigations.''