LAPD Rampart Division Trial: 2000 - A Key Witness Unable To Testify

One key person who was not at the trial was Perez. Four days before the trial began, Perez's former girlfriend, Sonya Flores, claimed that Perez murdered two people in a botched drug deal and then, with the help of another officer, buried the bodies in a ravine near Tijuana, Mexico. Despite a search by both American and Mexican authorities, no remains were ever found and Flores later admitted that her allegations were a lie. (On February 26, 2001, Flores was (Left to right) Officer Paul Harper, his lawyer Joel lsaacson, Sgt. Edward Ortiz, Sgt. Brian Liddy appearing in court for arraignment for their role in the Rampart Scandal. (The Gamma Liaison Network) sentenced to 14 months in prison after pleading guilty to one felony count of making a false statement to an FBI agent.) However, Flores's admission that she concocted the story did not come until after the trial of the four officers, and Perez's immunity agreement did not cover any murders that he may have committed. As a result, if Perez were to take the witness stand and one of the defense attorneys brought up the murder allegations to discredit him, Perez would have had to exercise his constitutional right not to testify under the Fifth Amendment and that would put the credibility of the rest of his testimony in great doubt.

In the end, the jury delivered a mixed verdict. Buchanan, Liddy, and Ortiz were all found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice. In addition, Buchanan was found guilty of two counts of perjury and Liddy and Ortiz were each found guilty of filing a false police report. All of these verdicts related to the July 1996 arrest of Natividad and Munoz. Harper was acquitted of all charges and Buchanan, Liddy, and Ortiz were found not guilty of the charges involving Allan Lobos.