GARCETTI MOVES TO SPEED SCANDAL CONVICTIONS.

Byline: Greg Gittrich and Beth Barrett Staff Writers

Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti said Thursday that he will more than double the number of prosecutors in the LAPD Rampart Division corruption investigation, conceding that fallout from the case likely will drag on for years.

Garcetti's decision comes amid increasing criticism from civil rights leaders and LAPD Police Chief Bernard C. Parks of the county prosecutor's handling of the largest Los Angeles Police Department corruption scandal in at least 50 years. Mayor Richard Riordan also has expressed concern about the speed at which Garcetti's office is moving to file criminal charges against dirty cops.

``It's a huge mess, we know that,'' Garcetti said Thursday. ``This is the LAPD's mess. We're trying to help them. We will help them.''

Within two weeks, Garcetti said, he will have 19 prosecutors working on the scandal. He also pledged to increase the task force's administrative staff, bringing the total number of personnel working on scandal-related issues to 30.

A spokeswoman for Garcetti insisted Thursday that his plans to bolster the task force had been in the works for weeks.

Mayor Richard Riordan said he met with Garcetti on Wednesday to urge more speed in the cases and came away believing Garcetti would move more swiftly.

``He's in a tough spot, I'm in a tough spot,'' Riordan said. ``What he wants is to prosecute the perfect case. Well, the perfect case may take months or years to put together. What I'm telling him, what the chief (Parks) is telling him is that people want justice. They want to see bad cops put in jail and innocent people set free.''

Parks has referred cases against three Rampart Division officers to the District Attorney's Office, but prosecutors are hoping to develop stronger evidence that could lead to more serious charges against a wider group of officers.

Meanwhile, a Superior Court judge on Thursday overturned nine more criminal convictions tainted by the alleged misconduct of Rampart Division cops, bringing to 40 the number of cases reversed so far.

The six cases tossed out by Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler were invalidated because corrupt cops planted evidence on the defendants and testified falsely in court, Garcetti said.

County prosecutors submitted four of the writs asking for the cases to be overturned, and assisted with two others brought by defense counsels.

``We expect to be in the writ-writing business, frankly, for a long time,'' Garcetti said during a morning press conference.

The District Attorney's Office is looking into dozens of other cases, with Parks and other LAPD brass adamant that 99 people were framed by corrupt-cop-turned-informant Rafael Perez and other elite anti-gang officers. Defense attorneys expressed concern Thursday in court that they are not being given access to evidence that might clear other defendants of crimes.

Five of the nine defendants whose cases were dismissed Thursday were on hand to hear their names cleared. All of the men served prison time on gun or drug charges, and one, 27-year-old Walter Alex Rivas, was still behind bars when his conviction was overturned. He was to be released overnight.

``Even though I'm happy that my conviction was thrown out,'' said 54-year-old Esaw Booker, ``I'm still depressed knowing that I lost my beloved mother. I wish the judge could give her back to me, but I know that's impossible.''

Booker's mother died in 1997 while he was incarcerated.

Steven Garcia, one of two defendants who blamed Perez for framing them, explained how the former officer set him up, threatened him and beat him. He described jail as a jungle, where ``you don't know if your day is going to come.''

``He (Perez) will see for himself if he has to do time,'' said Garcia, 59.

Perez agreed last September to snitch on other cops in exchange for a lighter prison sentence for stealing cocaine from an LAPD evidence room. He will be sentenced next week. During hours of confidential testimony obtained by the Daily News, Perez told investigators how he and other officers shot, beat and framed innocent people between 1995 and 1998.

Despite that testimony and enough corroborating evidence to dismiss the cases against 40 people, Garcetti said no charges will be filed ``in the foreseeable future'' against cops fingered by Perez. Garcetti said his office needs to compile sufficient evidence before putting the officers before a jury.

But Parks believes the LAPD has given county prosecutors enough evidence to file charges against at least three cops, including former Officer Brian Hewitt, who was fired last year for a station-house beating.

Garcetti's unwillingness to prosecute Hewitt and other cops for even minor crimes has increasingly angered the chief. LAPD officials also have expressed concern that county prosecutors were leaking confidential information, most notably transcripts of Perez's testimony, to the media and jeopardizing the criminal probe.

Garcetti ended his Thursday press conference without answering questions about the leaks.

Gregory Yates, a civil rights attorney for Rivas, Garcia and Jesus Raymond Lozano, 35, who also saw his named cleared Thursday, has filed claims for each man against the city, seeking unspecified damages.

Yates' cases are only a fraction of those being filed and the city's liability is expected to exceed $125 million, as reported by the Daily News on Feb. 7.

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Photo: Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti announces the release of nine more people whose cases were said to have been tainted by police misconduct.

Nick Ut/Associated Press