When the Cops are Wrong

It's not uncommon for a cop-turned-private investigator to be asked by his former colleagues, “How do you like working for the enemy?” Or, “I hear you went over to the dark side.” Though some law enforcement officers have an 'us against them' attitude, the truth is we are all part of the legal justice system. Without both sides equally represented, 'justice' would be questionable at best.

I've always contended a good investigator is a fact-finder and it shouldn't matter which side pays his/her salary. The facts of a case should never change or be otherwise altered to fit any agenda. Sometimes facts favor the investigator’s theory; sometimes they don't. True professionals swallow the good with the bad and don't allow themselves to be compromised by passionate viewpoints.

As a homicide detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, I was summoned one evening to a gang-related murder in the Vermont District of Los Angeles County, an area plagued by this type of activity. In this case the suspect had been identified by eyewitnesses, arrested by patrol deputies and booked at a nearby substation before we received the call.

I was elated knowing the case would be a 'walk-through', a solved case with very little follow-up investigation required. We would process the crime scene, documenting and collecting evidence, interview witnesses, attempt to obtain a statement from the suspect, and, within 48 hours, present the case to the district attorney.

Our investigation proceeded well until my partner and I met the suspect. The well-mannered, clean-cut athletic specimen before us certainly did not resemble your run-of-the-mill gangster. As it turned out, he played football for a major university. Raised in Compton, California—arguably one of the most dangerous cities in America—this young man had never been arrested and had no record of misconduct. (I couldn't have grown up in Compton without being arrested!) Something, obviously, was terribly amiss.

My partner and I spent the next twenty-some hours proving beyond a reasonable doubt this was a case of mistaken identity. We essentially completed the task of a defense investigator and spared an innocent man a life-altering course he did not deserve to travel. It turned out the witnesses saw the detained man drive past the location as the shooting occurred. His vehicle was unique and made lasting impressions. Not only did we prove this man did not commit the shooting, we determined this was a 'walk-up' shooting and could not have been committed by individuals in a passing vehicle. We later discovered additional witnesses who saw the real suspect run from the scene.

Whose side were we working for, anyway? It didn’t matter. What mattered was a young man’s life was spared from an extraordinary derailment because we were willing to recognize that cops, too, make mistakes.

The purpose of this story is not congratulatory; rather it is to say when I accept private investigator work for defense attorneys, I do so because a good defense is an essential cog in the wheels of justice. I scour police reports, revisit crime scenes, review evidence and assure every stone is turned. Not to embarrass the police or undermine the efforts of the prosecution, rather I do so because there are few tragedies more profound than when an innocent man or woman loses their freedom.