DA WILL SEEK MORE RAMPART REVERSALS GARCETTI'S OFFICE LISTS NINE CASES OF COP FRAME-UPS.

Byline: Greg Gittrich and Beth Barrett Staff Writers

he District Attorney's Office will seek to overturn the convictions today of nine more people who were allegedly framed by dirty cops in the LAPD's Rampart Division, officials said Wednesday.

One of the nine people remains in prison on reportedly trumped-up drug charges and would be released if the case is overturned as expected.

If a judge dismisses all of the cases, it would bring to 40 the number of people who have had their convictions overturned or cases against them thrown out in connection with the still-growing police corruption scandal.

Meanwhile, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Wednesday that he is in talks with Mayor Richard Riordan and District Attorney Gil Garcetti to determine whether state prosecutors can assist with the ongoing probe of the Los Angeles Police Department's corruption scandal.

In separate interviews, however, Lockyer and Garcetti were at odds over how much ``assistance'' the state would provide.

The latest round of convictions thought to be tainted involves six cases. In four of the cases, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is seeking to overturn the charges. The other two cases will be considered by the court based upon defense counsel requests. The task force investigating claims of corruption by dirty-cop-turned-informant Rafael Perez has determined that all of the cases were compromised because of false or planted evidence.

``Our top priorities continue to be freeing the innocent who have been wrongly convicted and developing evidence that will lead to successful prosecutions and maximum prison sentences for officers involved in the corruption scandal,'' Garcetti said.

The tainted cases include the conviction of 54-year-old Esaw Booker, who last month had a federal appeal of his conviction granted after county prosecutors concurred with his claims. In 1992, Booker was sentenced to nine years in state prison and eventually released on parole.

Along with Booker, the cases that prosecutors are seeking to overturn are:

--The July 1998 drug convictions of Walter Alex Rivas, 27, and Carlos Rodriguez Guevara, 21. Rivas was sentenced to seven years in prison and remains in custody at Pleasant Valley State Prison. Guevara was incarcerated for a year in county jail and is on probation.

--The December 1996 convictions of Raul Alfredo Munoz, 26, and Cesar Natividad, 31. Both pleaded guilty to assault and personal use of a deadly and dangerous weapon. Munoz was sentenced to three yeas in state prison and was deported after being released. He now lives in El Salvador. Natividad was sentenced to 227 days in county jail and placed on three years' probation. He currently is facing kidnapping charges in an unrelated case.

--The May 1997 gun conviction of Rafael Zambrano, 25. Zambrano was sentenced to a 16-month prison term. He is on parole.

--The October 1996 gun conviction of Ivan Oliver, 24. He was sentenced to 32 months in state prison and currently is on parole.

--The September 1997 drug convictions of Armando Victorino Carrillo, 59, and Jesus Raymond Lozano, 35. Carrillo was sentenced to four years in state prison and currently is on parole. Lozano was sentenced to 16 months in prison. He also is on parole. County prosecutors are joining with their counsel to overturn the case.

Hours before the District Attorney's Office announced it would seek to overturn the cases, Lockyer said he spoke with Garcetti and Riordan on Wednesday morning about whether the state should ``take over the investigation.''

Garcetti confirmed that he and the mayor had indeed spoken to Lockyer over the phone. But Garcetti said his office has ``invested tens of thousands of hours in this investigation'' and wasn't looking to hand off the entire probe to the state.

``I think everyone has confidence - that is, every local and governmental agency - in what we're doing and in what we've done,'' Garcetti said, despite recent criticism from top police officials and civil rights organizations.

Still, Garcetti said he would welcome ``a member of the Attorney General's Office to help us'' handle habeus corpus and other legal matters related to the probe.

A spokeswoman for Riordan also confirmed discussions had taken place between the mayor, Garcetti and Lockyer.

``This shows how significant this case is and the mayor welcomes any help the city can get to resolve this,'' spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez said.

Former LAPD Officer Perez has been detailing numerous incidents of corruption within the department since September. Perez agreed to disclose the incidents in exchange for a lighter prison sentence for stealing cocaine from an LAPD evidence room. He is scheduled to be sentenced next week.

According to Perez, he and other cops routinely abused, framed and arrested innocent people and then falsely testified in court to win convictions or guilty pleas.

Staff Writers Gina Keating and Rick Orlov contributed to this article.