Costa Rican gaming site owner testifies

[clevfan]

November 12, 2008


Lebron defense goes after integrity of key prosecution witness

Steve Lieberman
The Journal News

Spring Valley police Officer David Lebron's defense lawyer today went after the character and testimony of a key prosecution witness, who had told the jury that Lebron tipped him off about pending police raids.

Joseph Houston, a former bar manager in Spring Valley, answered questions about his criminal past and his drug use from Lebron's lawyer, Richard Murray.

Houston, who now runs a Costa Rica-based Internet gambling site and publishes a magazine, once took sports bets and also had conviction involving a burglary and theft of jewelry from his landlady in 2006.

Murray also focused on Houston's admitted inability to provide specific dates in his testimony about Lebron's tips and when police raided the bars.

Houston, 30, dressed in a black suit jacket, also told the the jury about an argument he had with a part-time Spring Valley police officer before he started his testimony last week.

The officer, John Vespucci, filed a report stating Houston was withholding evidence and made certain statements.

Houston testified he told Vespucci that he couldn't discuss the case on the judge's order.

An issue during the trial has been accusations that some other officers committed illegal acts like those Lebron is accused of committing. Murray asked Houston about his relationship with several Spring Valley police officers.

Lebron, an officer for nearly 16 years, is charged with felony counts of first-degree falsifying business records and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, as well as two misdemeanor counts each of official misconduct and sixth-degree conspiracy.

Houston continues testifying this afternoon before the jury and Judge Catherine Bartlett in the Rockland County Courthouse in New City.

Prosecutors Gary Lee Heavner and Janine Kovacs will then ask Houston more questions or call another witness.

Read more about this story tomorrow in The Journal News.

[clevfan]

Well whoever this Houston guy is, he's a rat:

November 8, 2008


Judge discusses memo about alleged police corruption during Spring Valley cop's trial

Steve Lieberman
The Journal News

A law enforcement memo raising questions about whether Spring Valley officers other than David Lebron tipped off bars about raids and possibly committed other illegal acts was introduced in court yesterday by the trial judge.

The prosecutor countered the investigative memo didn't involve the Lebron case and the allegations were being investigated separately.

With the jury outside the New City courtroom, Judge Catherine Bartlett called the memo a "firebomb" and demanded to know if there were documents outlining investigations by the Spring Valley police and Rockland District Attorney's Office.

"There are a lot allegations that are attributable to other officers, not this defendant," Bartlett said. "There are a lot (of) allegations in this memo that could be exculpable for this defendant."

Prosecutor Gary Lee Heavner disagreed, saying the document was part of reams of paperwork given to Lebron's defense lawyer last week.

The 2007 memo was written by Police Chief Paul Modica at the request of a former top prosecutor involved in the Lebron case.

"During the investigation into misconduct by David Lebron, isolated incidents of alleged misconduct against other officers were alleged," Heavner said. "Those are being appropriately investigated by the D.A.'s office and the Spring Valley Police Department."

Heavner said a memo discussing accusations doesn't mean the allegations have been corroborated.

"Simply because some paperwork discusses multiple investigations, no one should read into that to mean the allegations are related to the hundred of incidents involving David Lebron," Heavner said after court.

Lebron's lawyer, Richard Murray, pounced on Bartlett's comments about the memo. He said he's concerned about the credibility of the Spring Valley investigation of his client.

"If they did an investigation, what Spring Valley did in their investigation matters," Murray said.

Lebron has accused police investigators and the District Attorney's Office of trying to frame him in retaliation for filing a civil rights lawsuit against the village. He was passed over twice for sergeant.

Some of the allegations detailed in the memo were from a key prosecution witness, Joseph Houston, who managed bars in Spring Valley and at one point took gambling bets.

Houston told investigators that he once burned a DVD from surveillance videos showing an officer receiving oral sex in a bar.

When Bartlett asked about the DVD, Houston told the judge that he lost it over the years of moving to different homes and leaving the bar business. He now runs a magazine and other businesses.

The prosecution's case accuses Lebron in a six-count indictment of allowing drug deals, protecting illegal activities in bars, receiving oral sex while on duty and filing false reports.

Lebron, an officer for nearly 16 years, is charged with felony counts of first-degree falsifying business records and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, as well as two misdemeanor counts each of official misconduct and sixth-degree conspiracy.

Bartlett read parts of the memo during a hearing on whether the defense should get police reports about raids on bars. Heavner said he and co-counsel Janine Kovacs also have turned over all documents requested by the defense, including police reports.

Houston, 30, told a jury Thursday that Lebron tipped him to police prostitution stings and raids on local bars. Based on Lebron's tips, Houston testified he told his customers to get rid of their drugs and weapons and told anyone underage to leave.

Houston also said other bar managers paid him for tipping them off about the police raids.

On questioning from Lebron's lawyer yesterday, Houston went through his history of criminal activity. He admitted taking bets and running numbers in Spring Valley, as well as several arrests for fighting.

Houston told the jury that he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of possessing jewelry he stole after breaking into a Chestnut Ridge house in 2006.

He told the jury that the felony burglary charge was reduced to a misdemeanor when he agreed to cooperate with Lebron's investigators. He was sentenced to time served - seven months in jail - as part of the deal by Bartlett.

Barlett brought up the issue of Houston's cooperation, which led Lebron's lawyer to question him.