15 DUI CASES DROPPED\Deputy's arrest reports shown to be similar.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Fifteen drunk driving cases were dropped by Ventura County prosecutors or dismissed late last year after a Thousand Oaks defense attorney pointed out false information in a series of arrest reports by the same sheriff's deputy.

The District Attorney's Office dropped a misdemeanor drunk driving charge filed against Dennis Kucera's client after the attorney informed prosecutors in September that his client's arrest report contained the same incident descriptions as 14 other drunk driving reports.

County prosecutors subsequently dropped a similar charge against a second drunk driving defendant arrested by the deputy. Prosecutors also did not oppose the dismissal of 13 other cases involving the deputy that resulted in guilty pleas or convictions, said John Cardoza, supervising district attorney for the misdemeanor unit.

Cardoza said Thursday that the District Attorney's Office needed to respond strongly to cases that hinged on arrest reports that lacked "credibility."

"Credibility, both for law enforcement and our office, is just exceedingly important," he said. "That's one reason we took the extreme stance we did. We can't allow our credibility to be tainted."

Sheriff's Department officials have launched an internal investigation into charges that Deputy Christopher Williams filed false arrest reports. Williams was placed on paid administrative leave in December until the investigation is completed.

Hired in 1989, Williams most recently was a patrol deputy assigned to the sheriff's East Valley Station in Thousand Oaks, said Chief Deputy Sheriff Richard Rodriguez.

If Williams is disciplined, Rodriguez said the sanction could range from a letter of reprimand to dismissal.

Both defense and prosecuting attorneys said the arrest reports included several of the same incident descriptions that went beyond common observations in drunk driving cases, such as red and watery eyes and the smell of alcohol on a motorist's breath.

"You might suspect some common symptoms because you're talking about the same offense, but to see these descriptions verbatim over and over again is striking," Kucera said.

Kucera began his probe last April when his client, who he wouldn't name, told him the arrest report contained false information. The report described how the man fumbled with his wallet while removing his license, but Kucera's client said he didn't carry a wallet and had only a loose license and money in his pocket.

After verifying his client's account with a report on personal property taken during the arrest, Kucera noted that the arrest report was written on a computer or word processor.

Kucera then tracked drunk driving arrests handled by Williams and compared the arrest reports. Many of those cases involved the Ventura County Public Defender's Office, so Kucera and the deputy public defender overseeing drunk driving cases copied paragraphs repeated word-for-word in the reports and compared the various reports.

What stood out most to Kucera were the following incident descriptions noted in each arrest report: "As he walked back toward my patrol car, I noticed that he was unsteady on his feet, leaning several times to keep his balance. Then he immediately leaned backwards to support himself on the fender of my car."

Assistant Public Defender Jean Farley said the deputy's reports showed a disturbing pattern that prevented drunk driving defendants from fair treatment in court.

"At best, this is a very bad, bad shortcut," Farley said.

Defense attorneys said the outcome of drunk driving cases that reach a jury trial often is decided by who a jury believes, and an arrest report gives the advantage to law enforcement.

"And so when it comes to a shortcut like this, you can call it whatever you want to, but what I call it is the creation of a report that is based on a pre-printed memory, which is not reality," Farley contended. "All I can say is he must have been really good with the word processor."

Kucera said he is convinced the incident descriptions were "boiler plate" paragraphs the deputy inserted at different points of different reports.

Rather than use the arrest reports in defense of his client at trial, Kucera said he made his concerns clear to prosecutors "in hopes they would do the right thing, and they did the right thing."

Both Kucera and Farley credited the District Attorney's Office with moving quickly to investigate the charges and take action on the 15 cases.

Attorneys for the defendants who pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial filed motions to withdraw the pleas or dismiss the convictions. A Ventura Municipal Court judge ruled in their favor with no opposition from prosecutors last fall.

While the offenses will be removed from criminal records, the defendants still must seek reimbursement of fines and court fees, which often total some $1,800 for a misdemeanor drunk driving offense.

Those defendants also served a minimum of two days in the county jail.