CASE INVOLVING OFFICER DROPPED.

Byline: David R. Baker Staff Writer

Prosecutors dropped charges in a weapons possession case Friday because it was based on testimony from former Los Angeles police Officer Rafael Perez, the central figure in the department's worst corruption scandal to date.

It was the first of what prosecutors suspect will be a number of cases tainted by Perez, who exposed massive corruption after pleading guilty to stealing cocaine from an evidence locker.

The City Attorney's Office formally dismissed the 3-year-old case against Santos Iyala because Perez was the key witness, said City Attorney spokesman Mike Qualls.

``This was the first one they found that they felt needed to be dismissed,'' Qualls said. ``But the review continues.''

Iyala's case is among those the City Attorney's office has been reviewing since Perez admitted to supplying false testimony that sent another man to prison for 23 years.

The weapons possession case against Iyala was dismissed in the Los Angeles Municipal Court. Iyala has not attended previous hearings, and his whereabouts remain unknown, Qualls said.

The corruption scandal's effects echoed elsewhere in the city Friday. Family members of a man who claims police shot him during an interrogation nearly 19 years ago demanded that he be freed after a judge ordered the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office to show why he should remain in prison.

Jose Luis Frutis' family called on the District Attorney's Office to help free him, saying he was wrongfully convicted for a 1980 murder. Another convict has confessed to the killing.

``We are basically saying, release my brother, who has sat in prison for 19 years for something he didn't do,'' said Juan Carlos Madero. ``We're wondering why the DA is dragging his feet on this.''

Attorney Antonio Rodriguez filed a court petition in Los Angeles Superior Court on Aug. 27 seeking Frutis' release. On Sept. 28, Judge William Pounders gave the District Attorney's office 30 days to show why the petition should not be granted.

District Attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said her office is reviewing the case and would re-examine the available evidence, possibly interviewing those involved.

``It has to be reinvestigated,'' she said. ``We're just starting this.''

Although family members said they have long hoped to free Frutis, the case has received added attention following the recent allegations of corruption at the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart division.

Part of the Rampart scandal includes allegations that officers framed a man they had shot and paralyzed, leading to his conviction on assault charges. That man, Javier Ovando, was released from prison Sept. 16 after the District Attorney's Office filed a petition to free him.

Now Frutis' family members hope the widespread attention given to those allegations will produce similar results for him.

``We've been working on this for 19 years,'' said Susana Preciado, Frutis' sister. ``We finally have a voice.''

The Frutis case began with the Nov. 18, 1980, beating death of Jesse Porras. According to Rodriguez, Frutis was detained by police officers Dec. 26 that year and taken to an interrogation room in the LAPD's Central Station.

After the handcuffed Frutis told investigators that he was not involved in the murder and did not know who was, one of the detectives threatened to kill him, then pulled a revolver and shot him in the chest, Rodriguez said.

The LAPD ruled that the shooting had been accidental, Rodriguez said. LAPD spokesman Officer Jason Lee declined comment on the case.

Frutis filed a lawsuit against the city for violation of his civil rights but settled in 1986 for $18,000.

In 1996, Joey Garcia who, like Frutis, is serving time at Soledad Correctional Training Facility, confessed to the crime. Rodriguez said he learned of the confession in 1997 but did not receive full details of it until this year, initially encountering resistance from prison officials. Garcia, he said, also implicated two other men in the killing and said Frutis had nothing to do with it.

Rodriguez said Garcia's fingerprints were also found on the inside of a car the suspects used to flee the murder scene.

``I believe (Frutis) should be free,'' Rodriguez said Friday. ``If there is some humanity left in our government, he should be released.''