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EX-LAPD OFFICER GETS SENTENCE OF FIVE YEARS Durden Involved in Rampart Police Scandal By The Associated Press, Reported in Las Vegas Review-Journal, 08-08-02, P. 7B LOS ANGELES - Former police officer Nino Durden, who with ex-partner Rafael Perez symbolized the Rampart police scandal, was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for perjury, filing false police reports and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley accepted plea terms in which the prosecution agreed that Durden can serve his time in federal prison, where he was already sentenced to three years for civil rights violations and possession of an illegal firearm. Attorneys said he will most likely serve a total of just over 30 months, with his state and federal sentences running concurrently. The case was spawned by an investigation of a Los Angeles Police Department anti-gang unit in the tough Rampart area that led to numerous criminal cases being overturned because they were tainted by the illegal actions of officers. It also exposed the city to millions of dollars of liability in lawsuits by defendants in those cases. Attorneys suggested that Durden's statements to authorities in extensive debriefing has altered the official view of the corruption scandal that shook the Police Department. Head Deputy District Attorney William Hodgman said outside court that Durden's co-operation led prosecutors to reduce an original planned sentence of more than seven years. Durden's lawyer, Bill Seki, and Hodgman said that Durden undermined Perez's claim that the Rampart division was infected with corruption from top to bottom. Hodgman suggested the final story of Rampart may be different than authorities suspected. "We probably had a situation along the lines of a communist cell-type model, as opposed to a vast conspiracy , smaller groups of partners or individuals operating on their own," said Hodgman. Durden, who has been free on $680,000 bail, was ordered to surrender to federal authorities on Sept. 12. Durden, 33, was sentenced for various crimes, including shooting unarmed gang member Javier Francisco Ovando on Oct. 12, 1996. Durden and Perez were accused of shooting Ovando, then placing a gun in his hand to make it appear he threatened them. Ovando was paralyzed by his wounds. Durden pleaded guilty in March to six state charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, perjury, grand theft and filing a false report. | ||
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