EX-WHO FOUGHT TRAFFICKING, CORRUPTION CHARGES GETS 15 YEARS

SAN ANTONIO- A former San Antonio police officer has been sentenced to 15
years in prison, the stiffest punishment so far given to the half-dozen
officers convicted of plotting to protect cocaine traffickers.

Arthur Gutierrez Jr. was the only former police officer who fought
corruption charges. He won an acquittal on all but one count - aiding and
abetting the distribution of cocaine.

Only the group's primary organizer, former San Antonio police Sgt. Conrad
Fragozo Jr., potentially faces more time - a maximum of 20 years behind
bars. His sentencing is set for August.

Gutierrez's punishment Thursday did include a small measure of mercy. In
sentencing the 15-year police veteran, U.S. District Judge Edward C. Prado
swept aside federal guidelines that would have put the 39-year-old behind
bars for no less than 19 years.

Prado departed from the guidelines, indicating that he believed the
corruption case, which featured phony cocaine supplied by undercover FBI
agents posing as drug smugglers, was anything but a typical narcotics case
and should not be governed by standard drug sentences.

Gutierrez, who is a father of four, dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief
during the hearing, but remained stoic, the San Antonio Express-News
reported in its online editions Friday.

His attorney, Jimmy Parks, said the sentence was a mixed blessing for
Gutierrez, whose first trial ended with a deadlocked jury. A second jury in
April acquitted Gutierrez of all but one charge following a second trial.

"If he was guilty, I'd say 'What a break!'" Parks said. "But I still have
confidence in him."