Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. decided not to seek criminal charges against Carlton Jones in the fatal shooting

The Washington Post



December 26, 2000, Tuesday, Final Edition


Officer Had Filed A False Report; Same Policeman Left Md., Shot Man in Fairfax


BYLINE: Ruben Castaneda , Washington Post Staff Writer


SECTION: METRO; Pg. B01


LENGTH: 1243 words


The undercover Prince George's County police narcotics officer who shot and killed an unarmed man in Fairfax County admitted during recent court testimony that he had been found guilty by his department of filing a false report.


The admission led to the dismissal of cocaine charges against a Hyattsville man after a judge ruled that cocaine allegedly seized by the officer, Cpl. Carlton B. Jones, could not be used as evidence. But it also casts doubt on dozens of other drug cases in which Jones played a role.


Although he is suspended from street duty pending an internal investigation of the Sept. 1 Fairfax County shooting, Jones retains his police powers, and prosecutors have continued to call him to testify in drug cases.


Prince George's State's Attorney Jack B. Johnson has said he will keep prosecuting cases involving Jones and other officers who are under investigation or facing criminal charges, so long as the charges do not include perjury.


Johnson did not return telephone calls last week seeking comment.


Jones's attorney, Michael T. Leibig, declined to comment on the false-report finding against his client.


Paul Butler, a professor at George Washington University Law School and a former federal prosecutor, said the fact that Jones was found guilty by his own department of filing a false police report "is just devastating."


He noted that in drug cases involving undercover police officers, the credibility of the officer is crucial. Such cases often come down to the officer's word against the defendant's regarding alleged drug buys, and to the believability of officers who say they obtained crucial information from confidential sources.


"It renders him useless as a witness," said Paul Rothstein, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center.


Law enforcement agencies across the country have grappled with how to deal with instances or allegations of lying by police.


In Los Angeles, scores of criminal convictions have been overturned in the wake of a scandal in which some members of an anti-gang unit allegedly rigged evidence against suspects and then lied to obtain convictions.


In the District, the U.S. attorney's office for years has maintained a list of officers who have been convicted of crimes or are under investigation; prosecutors do not call those officers to testify and in some instances drop charges. The list includes 100 to 200 names at any given time.


Last year, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose, during a speech to police academy graduates, expressed outrage that several officers who had been found by internal investigations to have lied were allowed to continue serving as police officers.


Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. decided not to seek criminal charges against Carlton Jones in the fatal shooting of Prince C. Jones Jr. The two men were not related.


In an interview, Horan said that at the time he conducted his investigation, he was aware that Carlton Jones had been found to have made false statements. Horan said the finding had no impact on his investigation.


"I can't think of anything that would affect the physical evidence and the eyewitness accounts," Horan said.


Jones and another officer had followed Prince Jones from Hyattsville, through the District and into Virginia, police said. The officers believed that the vehicle Prince Jones was driving may have been connected to drug dealing and the theft of an officer's gun from an unmarked Prince George's police car, officials said.


After reaching the Seven Corners area of Fairfax, Carlton Jones told police, Prince Jones initiated the confrontation by backing his Jeep up to the officer's door, preventing the officer from getting out. When Prince Jones walked to the officer's car, Carlton Jones held up his gun and said, twice, "Police. Get back in your vehicle," according to the officer's account.


Prince Jones, 25, struck the officer's vehicle twice with his vehicle, leading Carlton Jones to fear for his life and fire 16 rounds, according to police.


Details about the internal investigation of Carlton Jones were disclosed during a Sept. 22 motions hearing on cocaine charges against Dennis Anthony Butler, 30. Those charges resulted from Jones's alleged seizure of $ 3,000 worth of cocaine from Butler's car after the officer swore out an affidavit that a confidential source had tipped him to the drugs.


Circuit Court Judge Sherrie L. Krauser ruled that police did not have probable cause to conduct the search. Two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and two counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance against Butler were then dismissed.


There was "an internal hearing where you were found guilty. Is that correct?" defense attorney Douglas J. Wood asked Jones during the hearing.


"That is correct, sir," Jones replied, according to a transcript of the hearing.


The police trial board had focused on the charging document Jones wrote against John Robert Johnson in connection with an alleged gun battle April 21, 1997.


In the document, Jones alleged that when he went to the 7200 block of Landover Road to investigate a report of shots being fired, a county sheriff's deputy told him he had seen Johnson engaged in a gun battle with another man.


The charging document goes on to allege that a witness who called a police dispatcher identified Johnson as the person who threw a handgun on top of a building; police recovered the handgun.


According to law enforcement sources familiar with the internal investigation, the sheriff's deputy testified at the police trial board that he did not tell Jones he had seen Johnson engaged in a gun battle. In addition, investigators could not locate any audiotape in which a witness tells a police dispatcher that the gun had been tossed atop a building, and the existence of the witness could not be verified, the sources said.


In a federal civil lawsuit against Jones alleging false arrest and civil rights violations, Johnson alleges that Jones had expressed his intention to run Johnson "out of town."


Unlike officials in the District, in Los Angeles and in other cities where a large number of police witnesses are facing charges or are under investigation, state's attorney Johnson has said he is obligated to move forward with cases that involve possibly tainted officers.


At least five times during the last three months, charges have been dropped or a defendant has won a quick acquittal in a case involving a police officer under investigation or facing criminal charges.


Defense attorneys and legal experts said that even before the disclosure of the false police report, Jones's notoriety had undermined his effectiveness as a police witness.


In September, a Circuit Court jury took about an hour to acquit a Hyattsville man of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.


Although Jones did not testify in that case, several jurors made wide-eyed expressions when the defense attorney in open court identified Jones as one of the investigators.


Last month, a Prince George's County prosecutor in a case in which Jones was a witness abruptly dropped felony cocaine charges against a Silver Spring man when the defense attorney said he would make a motion asking for all police internal reports about Jones, including the incident in which he filed a false police report and the fatal shooting in Fairfax County.