Fairfax County Police Watch: Suspended New Orleans officer refuses plea deal

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 43-year-old suspended New Orleans Police officer accused of sexually assaulting three teenagers dating back to the 1990s broke into tears as prosecutors sought to again push back his trial date.

"This game gotta stop, man!" said a tearful Desmond Pratt as he sat Tuesday in a jury box in shackles and jail scrubs.

According to his attorney, Robert Jenkins, Pratt had just rejected a deal from Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office to plead guilty in the case — a deal offered on the morning the former homicide detective was scheduled for trial on allegations that he molested three teenagers.

The New Orleans Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1kMA86Y) the most recent of the alleged incidents — a sexual battery — took place a year ago. He's been in custody for 11 months for the alleged molestations. He also faces charges of aggravated sexual assault and carnal knowledge of a juvenile from earlier alleged incidents.

Prosecutor Jason Napoli told Criminal District Judge Franz Zibilich that authorities were getting no help from the mother of the purported victim in the most recent incident, and that the mother has "consistently stifled our ability to prepare for trial."

Zibilich granted a request to subpoena the girl through her mother, who was in the courtroom. She later spoke privately with Cannizzaro outside the courtroom, then with a group of Pratt's supporters, leaving unclear whether she continues to press for Pratt's prosecution. She declined to speak to a reporter.

Zibilich put off the trial until April 1 and ordered Jenkins to submit an argument by Monday on whether, and under what circumstances, a videotaped statement from the girl could be used at a trial.

Pratt has been in jail since April. Zibilich reduced his bond in November from $500,000 to $400,000 but refused to lower it further despite at least two trial delays. The judge said there appeared to be no new evidence that warranted a bond reduction.

During Tuesday's court appearance, Zibilich turned to Pratt and urged him to consider agreeing to a deal. He noted that the most serious allegation could bring a sentence as high as 20 years if Pratt is convicted.

"I'm not going to say there's a reverse presumption (of guilt)," Zibilich said, but "some jurors come in and say, 'Why would this little girl lie?' 'Why are these women lying?' "

He told Pratt, "You're at risk here."

Before his arrest, Pratt worked in the Sixth District. Prior to that, as a homicide detective, he was a key figure in the investigation of crimes now pinned on alleged drug lord Telly Hankton, who is serving a life prison sentence for his conviction in a 2008 murder.

How Pratt's legal troubles might affect that case is unclear.

Jenkins declined outside the courtroom to specify the plea deal offered by prosecutors. Christopher Bowman, a spokesman for Cannizzaro's office, also declined to elaborate, citing a policy against commenting on open cases.

Morrogh finds cop he doesn’t love. In other news, hell freezes.

Probe of fatal police shooting goes to federal authorities

By Justin Jouvenal/Post

The Fairfax County prosecutor has turned over the investigation of a fatal police shooting of an unarmed Springfield man to federal authorities, citing complications with the five-month-old case.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia has agreed to continue the probe into the death of 46-year-old John Geer, who was shot during a standoff with Fairfax County police in August. No one has been charged in the incident.

“There is a conflict of interest that has arisen in the case,” Morrogh said Thursday. “And there is a second potential conflict of interest that has arisen out of my office. . . . This is the prudent thing to do.”

Morrogh declined to describe the nature of the conflicts because the investigation is ongoing. The U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday that it could not confirm or deny any investigation or comment on pending investigations.

Police went to Geer’s Pebble Brook Court home on Aug. 29 because of a report of a domestic disturbance. Geer’s father, Don Geer, said his son was upset because his girlfriend, the mother of his two children, had decided to leave him.

John Geer had thrown his girlfriend’s belongings in the front yard. She called police and told them that Geer had a firearm. Police said they tried for about 50 minutes to persuade Geer to leave the home, but he refused.

Don Geer said he watched the climax of the encounter. He said that he could not hear what officers were saying to his son but that he saw him standing with empty hands resting on top of a screen door at the home’s entrance.

At some point, John Geer began to slowly lower his hands and an officer opened fire, hitting Geer in the chest, his father said. Geer retreated inside and closed the door. A SWAT team eventually entered the home and found Geer dead.

Don Geer said detectives later told him that his son did not have a gun on him at the time of the shooting but that there was a holstered handgun a couple of steps from the front door.

Don Geer said it appeared to him that the shooting was unjustified, but he was unsure what to make of the probe being turned over to federal authorities.

“I don’t know whether that’s good or bad — if I had a better idea of why they are doing it, I could form an opinion,” he said.

Geer and friends of his son have been critical of how long the investigation has taken, but Morrogh said police and prosecutors were working to explore all the evidence. He did not think federal prosecutors would have to start from scratch.

“No one wants these things to linger on,” Morrogh said.

Our ink will outlast his career

Under the reign of former Chief of Police Rhorer the Fairfax County Police arrested a man for not wearing clothes in his house while he made coffee, set up an eye doctor on a gambling charge and then used the SWAT team to kill him. An investigation into the charge that the Doctor’s primary clients were cops has never been investigated. The police gunned down an emotionally unstable man because cop who shot him wrongly assumed the man was trying to escape. He wasn’t. The cops also shot dead four other citizens under highly questionable circumstances. The department under Rhorer was sued multiple times by citizens. So did they fire Rhorer? Naw they promoted him. According to news reports Rhorer draws a salary of $191,168 per year as Deputy Fairfax County Executive as well as a concurrent pension from the Fairfax County police of $173000 per year.

Occupation by force

According to the most recent U.S. Census figures, nearly one in five Fairfax residents (17.5 percent) is of Asian descent while Hispanics make up nearly 16 percent of Fairfax’s overall population. Those numbers drop considerably when applied to the Fairfax County Police Department, where only 4.3 percent of officers are Asian and 4.1 percent Hispanic. White officers make up 84 percent of Fairfax County’s 1,360-member police department, significantly higher than the county’s general population (54 percent white). Almost 90% of the force lives outside the county.