LOS ANGELES — The jury deliberating corruption charges against four police officers reached partial verdicts which were sealed at the end of the first full day of deliberations, The Associated Press learned Friday.
Two sources close to the case who spoke on condition of anonymity said the verdicts, sealed in an envelope, were given to the court by jurors just before they went home on Thursday. They had spent a total of seven hours behind closed doors since the case was submitted to them late Wednesday.
Attorneys Barry Levin and Harland Braun said the defense team had not been notified of the partial decisions before the court closed for the long Veterans Day weekend. District attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons declined comment on the report.
The sources said it was likely that lawyers would be called into court Monday to address the situation. They said it is not unusual for a jury to place their partial verdicts in the hands of the judge for safekeeping until they can decide the rest of the charges or report a deadlock on other counts.
It was not known how many of the charges have been decided.
Los Angeles police Sgts. Brian Liddy and Edward Ortiz and Officers Michael Buchanan and Paul Harper, are charged with multiple counts of perjury and conspiracy to obstruct justice by allegedly framing gang members for crimes they didn't commit.
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In 3 1/2 weeks of testimony, jurors heard from all four officers who took the stand to pronounce their innocence. The prosecution relied upon gang members with questionable credibility and police colleagues of the defendants to make their case.
The most conspicuously absent witness was former officer Rafael Perez, who triggered charges against the officers and set off a wide-ranging probe of the anti-gang unit they worked in at the Police Department's Rampart station.
Perez, an admitted drug thief who fingered others to save himself, was a dubious witness from the start. But on the eve of trial a former lover accused him of two murders and his credibility as a witness was thrown into question. He demanded immunity from murder if he testified, which was refused, and prosecutors did not call him to the stand.
On Friday, in another shocker, authorities revealed that the ex-lover had recanted her accusations and said she made up the murder stories as revenge for being jilted.
Jurors have been under orders to stay away from publicity in the case.
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