POLICE SUPPRESSION OF EVIDENCE PENALIZED

Maybe the suppression WAS "inadvertent" but with the LAPD who would believe it? The only way to stop the chronic withholding of evidence is to treat any failure of full disclosure as conclusive evidence of the innocence of the accused

A federal judge has ordered the city to pay $1.1 million in legal costs to the family of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. as sanctions for intentionally withholding evidence. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper's ruling Friday didn't give the family the $2 million originally sought, but she left open the possibility of an additional $300,000.

"It's pretty clear from the ruling that the judge understands this is a significant and difficult case," said Perry Sanders, an attorney for the rapper's family. "We were disappointed with the order," said Jonathan Diamond, spokesman for City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo, whose office defended the city. "We believe the officer's conduct was inadvertent, and we will prevail at trial on the merits of the case." Christopher Wallace, or Notorious B.I.G., was shot and killed March 9, 1997, after a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The murder has not been solved.

Cooper had declared a mistrial last summer in the family's civil lawsuit after finding that a police detective hid statements linking the killing to Officers David Mack and Rafael Perez. City attorneys said the statements came from a jailhouse informant seeking special treatment, and robbery-homicide Det. Steven Katz claimed he had overlooked the transcript of the remarks in his desk.

But Cooper ruled that Katz and perhaps others concealed the information, which could have bolstered the family's contention that Mack was involved in the killing.

The trial began in June, with plaintiffs trying to show that Mack, a convicted bank robber, orchestrated Wallace's killing with the help of college friend on behalf of Death Row Records chief Marion "Suge" Knight. All three have denied involvement. The case stopped abruptly when the plaintiffs' attorneys said they had received an anonymous tip from a former officer who said a department informant had tied Perez and Mack to the killing. The tip led to an investigation of the police department's Robbery-Homicide Division that uncovered statements by a former Perez cellmate, who had told the department that the disgraced officer had confessed to participating with Mack in Wallace's killing.

The retrial is expected to begin later this year.

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