The Washington Post
December 26, 2000, Tuesday, Final Edition
Officer Had Filed A False Report; Same Policeman Left Md.,
Shot Man in Fairfax
BYLINE: Ruben Castaneda , Washington Post Staff Writer
SECTION: METRO; Pg. B01
LENGTH: 1243 words
The undercover Prince George's County police narcotics
officer who shot and killed an unarmed man in Fairfax County admitted during
recent court testimony that he had been found guilty by his department of
filing a false report.
The admission led to the dismissal of cocaine charges
against a Hyattsville man after a judge ruled that cocaine allegedly seized by
the officer, Cpl. Carlton B. Jones, could not be used as evidence. But it also
casts doubt on dozens of other drug cases in which Jones played a role.
Although he is suspended from street duty pending an
internal investigation of the Sept. 1 Fairfax County shooting, Jones retains
his police powers, and prosecutors have continued to call him to testify in
drug cases.
Prince George's State's Attorney Jack B. Johnson has said he
will keep prosecuting cases involving Jones and other officers who are under
investigation or facing criminal charges, so long as the charges do not include
perjury.
Johnson did not return telephone calls last week seeking
comment.
Jones's attorney, Michael T. Leibig, declined to comment on
the false-report finding against his client.
Paul Butler, a professor at George Washington University Law
School and a former federal prosecutor, said the fact that Jones was found
guilty by his own department of filing a false police report "is just
devastating."
He noted that in drug cases involving undercover police
officers, the credibility of the officer is crucial. Such cases often come down
to the officer's word against the defendant's regarding alleged drug buys, and
to the believability of officers who say they obtained crucial information from
confidential sources.
"It renders him useless as a witness," said Paul
Rothstein, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
Law enforcement agencies across the country have grappled
with how to deal with instances or allegations of lying by police.
In Los Angeles, scores of criminal convictions have been
overturned in the wake of a scandal in which some members of an anti-gang unit
allegedly rigged evidence against suspects and then lied to obtain convictions.
In the District, the U.S. attorney's office for years has
maintained a list of officers who have been convicted of crimes or are under
investigation; prosecutors do not call those officers to testify and in some
instances drop charges. The list includes 100 to 200 names at any given time.
Last year, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose,
during a speech to police academy graduates, expressed outrage that several
officers who had been found by internal investigations to have lied were
allowed to continue serving as police officers.
Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. decided
not to seek criminal charges against Carlton Jones in the fatal shooting of
Prince C. Jones Jr. The two men were not related.
In an interview, Horan said that at the time he conducted
his investigation, he was aware that Carlton Jones had been found to have made
false statements. Horan said the finding had no impact on his investigation.
"I can't think of anything that would affect the
physical evidence and the eyewitness accounts," Horan said.
Jones and another officer had followed Prince Jones from
Hyattsville, through the District and into Virginia, police said. The officers
believed that the vehicle Prince Jones was driving may have been connected to
drug dealing and the theft of an officer's gun from an unmarked Prince George's
police car, officials said.
After reaching the Seven Corners area of Fairfax, Carlton
Jones told police, Prince Jones initiated the confrontation by backing his Jeep
up to the officer's door, preventing the officer from getting out. When Prince
Jones walked to the officer's car, Carlton Jones held up his gun and said,
twice, "Police. Get back in your vehicle," according to the officer's
account.
Prince Jones, 25, struck the officer's vehicle twice with his
vehicle, leading Carlton Jones to fear for his life and fire 16 rounds,
according to police.
Details about the internal investigation of Carlton Jones
were disclosed during a Sept. 22 motions hearing on cocaine charges against
Dennis Anthony Butler, 30. Those charges resulted from Jones's alleged seizure
of $ 3,000 worth of cocaine from Butler's car after the officer swore out an
affidavit that a confidential source had tipped him to the drugs.
Circuit Court Judge Sherrie L. Krauser ruled that police did
not have probable cause to conduct the search. Two counts of possession with
intent to distribute cocaine and two counts of possession of a controlled
dangerous substance against Butler were then dismissed.
There was "an internal hearing where you were found
guilty. Is that correct?" defense attorney Douglas J. Wood asked Jones
during the hearing.
"That is correct, sir," Jones replied, according
to a transcript of the hearing.
The police trial board had focused on the charging document
Jones wrote against John Robert Johnson in connection with an alleged gun
battle April 21, 1997.
In the document, Jones alleged that when he went to the 7200
block of Landover Road to investigate a report of shots being fired, a county
sheriff's deputy told him he had seen Johnson engaged in a gun battle with
another man.
The charging document goes on to allege that a witness who
called a police dispatcher identified Johnson as the person who threw a handgun
on top of a building; police recovered the handgun.
According to law enforcement sources familiar with the
internal investigation, the sheriff's deputy testified at the police trial
board that he did not tell Jones he had seen Johnson engaged in a gun battle.
In addition, investigators could not locate any audiotape in which a witness
tells a police dispatcher that the gun had been tossed atop a building, and the
existence of the witness could not be verified, the sources said.
In a federal civil lawsuit against Jones alleging false
arrest and civil rights violations, Johnson alleges that Jones had expressed
his intention to run Johnson "out of town."
Unlike officials in the District, in Los Angeles and in
other cities where a large number of police witnesses are facing charges or are
under investigation, state's attorney Johnson has said he is obligated to move
forward with cases that involve possibly tainted officers.
At least five times during the last three months, charges
have been dropped or a defendant has won a quick acquittal in a case involving
a police officer under investigation or facing criminal charges.
Defense attorneys and legal experts said that even before
the disclosure of the false police report, Jones's notoriety had undermined his
effectiveness as a police witness.
In September, a Circuit Court jury took about an hour to
acquit a Hyattsville man of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
Although Jones did not testify in that case, several jurors
made wide-eyed expressions when the defense attorney in open court identified
Jones as one of the investigators.
Last month, a Prince George's County prosecutor in a case in
which Jones was a witness abruptly dropped felony cocaine charges against a
Silver Spring man when the defense attorney said he would make a motion asking
for all police internal reports about Jones, including the incident in which he
filed a false police report and the fatal shooting in Fairfax County.