Election Section

LOS ANGELES — As prosecutors rested their case, a judge dismissed two perjury counts against one of the officers charged in the LAPD corruption trial. 

Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Connor said prosecutors failed to prove that officer Michael Buchanan was on vacation when he claimed to have witnessed an arrest. 

“I believe the evidence is simply insufficient,” she said. 

Buchanan is one of four officers on trial for misconduct and still faces three other counts. 

Connor said defense lawyers presented enough doubt to suggest that personnel records introduced by prosecutors might be wrong. The officer’s lawyer, Harland Braun, said Buchanan came to work late on the day in question after visiting his terminally ill parents in a hospital. 

Connor’s ruling came after defense lawyers asked that all charges against their clients be dismissed. She allowed the remaining seven counts, including three against Buchanan, to be decided by the jury. 

Buchanan, officer Paul Harper and sergeants Brian Liddy and Edward Ortiz are charged with conspiracy, perjury and filing false reports. The charges stem from three cases between March 1996 and April 1998 in which the officers are alleged to have framed innocent people. 

Defense attorneys urged Connor to dismiss all charges, including a conspiracy count against each. 

“There simply was no evidence in this trial of any conspiracy,” attorney Barry Levin said. “There was no agreement. ... Your honor, there hasn’t been one piece of evidence that is reliable and credible that says this case should go to the jury.” 

Deputy district attorneys Anne Ingalls and Laura Laesecke argued there has been ample proof to sustain a guilty verdict on all the allegations. 

“This is a decision that needs to be made by the community, that needs to be made by the jury,” Laeseka said. “There is sufficient evidence to send this case to the jury.” 

The arguments over whether to dismiss the charges took place outside the presence of the jury and after prosecutors rested their case. 

Both prosecutors repeatedly accused the defendants of lying on written reports. They did not discuss the absence of their star witness, former officer Rafael Perez. 

Perez turned informant in exchange for leniency after he stole $1 million worth of cocaine from a police evidence room. His allegations that officers in the Rampart Division antigang unit planted evidence, lied under oath and falsified reports has led to dismissal of charges in about 100 cases. 

Perez wasn’t among the 26 witnesses called during the first two weeks of testimony. His lawyer said he would refuse to testify unless he received immunity from recent murder allegations made by an ex-lover. 

The claim remains under investigation and no murder charges have been filed. 

Defense attorneys have said Perez is a liar and that without his testimony there is no case against their clients.