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From: [b--n--n] at [microunity.com] (Brendan Eich)
Subject: Re: Gov't break-ins (Re: 60 minutes)
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 09:58:52 GMT

Daily News, (San Fernando)
March 30, 1993

Deputy who killed rancher during raid won't be charged

By Ron Soble and Carol Bidwel
Daily News Staff Writers

The Ventura County District Attorney's Office will not prosecute a Los
Angeles sheriff's deputy in the fatal shooting of a Malibu rancher
during an Octover drug raid, according to lawyers familiar with the
investigation.

But in a lengthy report to be released today, District Attorney
Michael Bradbury strongly criticizes the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department forits actions in the raid on the 200-acre Malibu ranch
owned by Donald P. Scott.

Scott, 61, was armed with a handgun and confronted deputies who raided
his ranch suspecting to find marijuana there.  Los Angeles sheriff's
Deputy Gary Spencer shot and killed Scott, law enforcement sources
said.

No marijuana was ever found on the ranch, and Scott's estate has filed
a wrongful death lawsuit against several agencies involved in the
raid.

Bradbury declined Monday to discuss details of the report in advance
of its release, but he said it contains 15 recommended changes in
policies and procedures for the several agencies involved in the Oct.
2 raid.

"Those agencies have either oversight or direct supervision of the
people or agencies that were involved in the raid," Bradbury said.

"Those are people who make the policies that were followed during that
raid," he said, adding that those agencies had been given advance
copies of the report.

Among those agencies were the Sheriff's Department, which led the
raid, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the National Park Service
and the U.S. Border Patrol.

While Bradbury's investigation concluded there is not enough evidence
to charge Spencer with improperly shooting Scott, the prosecutor has
said the report would be forwarded to the Ventura and Los Angeles
county grand juries for possible further investigation.

Although the entrance to Scott's ranch is off Mulholland Highway in
Los Angeles County, the ranch itself is located entirely in Ventura
County.

The fact that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department did not
notify Ventura County authorities of the raid until it was over has
exacerbated relations between law enforcement officials in the two
counties.

The long-awaited report, which culminates a months-long investigation
by Bradbury, also is expected to make conclusions about the legality
of the drug raid, and to explore allegations that the Sheriff's
Department's desire to seize the ranch was a motive for the operation,
according to sources.

Under federal and state forefeiture laws, land can be confiscated
through civil proceeding if illegal drugs, such as marijuana, are
found on the property.

Although a flyover of Scott's 200-acre Trail's End Ranch by the DEA
found "approximately 50 (marijuana) plants ... growing aroundsome
large trees" near the ranch house, according to a search warrant
afidavit, no such plants were ever discovered on the property.

The night after the Sept. 23 flyover, three U.S. Border Patrol agents
conducted a secret search of the property and could find no marijuana.

Given that the Border Patrol came up empty-handed, the foundation for
the search warrant, issued Oct. 1 for the raid, is faulty, said a
government investigator.

"If (the Border Patrol) said there was nothing there, then (the
sheriff) had to know," the source said.  "If there was no probable
cause for the raid, then why did they go there?  The only probable
inference you can draw is that the Los Angeles sheriff wanted to get
that property through forefeiture proceedings."

Capt. Larry Waldie, commander of the Los Angeles sheriff's narcotics
bureau, said Monday he had not seen Bradbury's report and, therefore,
could not comment on it.

However, he did reiterate that seizure of Scott's ranch was not a
motive for the raid.

"If someone would say that we did something for a forfeiture motive
instead of trying to find marijuana, that would surprise me because we
didn't," Waldie said.
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/be
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Brendan Eich
MicroUnity Systems Engineering, Inc.
[b--n--n] at [microunity.com]