Police1 Staff Report
(LOS ANGELES) -- A computer mistake on a key piece of evidence in the Ramparts police trial, which ended in the conviction of three officers, could have mislead jurors, the judge said last week. She added that the officers could have grounds to ask for a new trial.
“I am troubled...This is not a small issue,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jacqueline A. Conner told the Los Angeles Times on Nov. 22.
The evidence in question is a police report that erroneously exaggerates the injuries the police officer said they suffered.
The new development, which arose during a meeting to discuss suspected jury misconduct between the judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys, casts further doubt on a case that has been called the biggest police scandal in Los Angeles Police department history.
Three of four officers were convicted of framing gang members by planting evidence and falsifying police records. The fourth officer was acquitted.
According to the Times, the report was supposed to say the officers were victims of assault with a deadly weapon by means likely to produce great bodily injury. The report, according to judge, gives the impression that the officers were actually claiming to have suffered injury, which they did not. The mistake went unnoticed during the trial.
"[The jurors] were deciding a false issue,” defense attorney Harland Braun told the Times. “These officers were convicted on what a computer spit out.”
Prosecutors felt that the mistake was not significant and attempted to have the judge postpone the hearing for a new trial.
“We should not be putting the jury on trial,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Laura Laesecke told the Times.
Jury foreman Victor Flores also felt the computer mistake was of no consequence in the jury’s decision.
“I don’t feel the verdict was based just on the fact of whether they suffered great bodily injury,” Flores told the Times. “At least for me it wasn’t.’
A hearing to determine whether or not to have a new trial is set for Dec. 15.