FREED SUSPECT WANTED AGAIN : WARRANT ISSUED IN '96 MURDER FOR MAN RELEASED ON TECHNICALITY IN '94 SLAYING.

Byline: Jaxon Van Derbeken Daily News Staff Writer

After a suspect in a drive-by murder was released last fall because LAPD investigators in the case were accused of misconduct, he allegedly murdered again, officials said Friday.

Kevin Adams, 23, of South Central Los Angeles, was jailed on murder charges but later freed on a technicality in a drive-by murder Nov. 29, 1994.

Now he is sought on a murder warrant in the Feb. 16 drive-by shooting of 44-year-old Calvin Gentry, a homeless man, at 55th Street and Central Avenue in South Central, officials said.

The warrant was issued Wednesday, said Newton Division Detective Diana Smith.

Gentry was a transient who frequented the area, she said.

``It's just another sad case down here,'' Smith said. ``He was an innocent bystander. The bullet was not meant for him. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.''

If Adams had not been freed, she said, ``Perhaps our victim would still be standing out there.''

Adams was freed after it was revealed that two Los Angeles Police Department investigators testified falsely at a preliminary hearing for Adams and another suspect, Girard Moody.

The two officers - Andrew Teague and Charles Markel - appeared Friday at a disciplinary hearing. Each is charged with misconduct surrounding Teague's testimony in a May 1995 preliminary hearing in the murder case.

Teague testified that certain documents were authentic, when he actually had fabricated them as a ruse to obtain witness statements.

The documents were never used in the case, however. His then partner, Markel, is charged with failing to report misconduct.

Both men await a ruling Monday on the charges against them.

Sgt. Fabian Lizzaraga, who put on the department's disciplinary case, said they were guilty of not preparing for the May 1995 hearing and that the failure to prepare constituted misconduct under department rules.

The murder case in the death of Pablo Trujillo Jr. is in limbo.

Detective Ben Lovato, who supervised the investigation into the 1994 slaying of Trujillo, testified at the disciplinary hearing Friday that Markel and Teague were reliable detectives who handled the most complex cases at Hollenbeck Division.

When he heard that Chief Willie L. Williams was going to announce the allegations against the two investigators, Lovato said that he ``literally begged'' his supervisor to stop it.

The chief had a press conference Sept. 1, announcing that both officers were suspended pending a further investigation.

``I watched television, I could not believe what happened,'' Lovato said. ``It was horrible.''

Lovato said that, despite the dismissal, he still believes there was a good case against Adams in the Trujillo slaying and he hopes charges will be refiled.

Lovato said he himself obtained crucial evidence against Adams in the Trujillo slaying.

Department officials at the hearing did not question the findings of the investigation that implicated Adams, only the detectives' handling of the case.

The police tribunal agreed to reconvene Monday.

Deputy District Attorney Peter Korn said that he partly blamed himself for what happened to the officers.

``I quite frankly feel somewhat responsible for calling him (Teague) under such short notice,'' Korn said. ``I feel bad about it . . . I do feel partly responsible for it.''

Teague admitted that he fabricated documents as a ruse to obtain witness statements, but said he did not deliberately testify falsely.

``I read those documents, confused myself. That's why I said what I said,'' Teague told the panel Friday.

Markel, who like Teague is charged with failure to properly prepare the case, denied charges that he failed to report misconduct.

``It was in my opinion an error that was going to be corrected. I saw no need to advise anyone,'' he said.