Defense Rests in Trial of 3 Officers in Dalton Ave. Raid

Pressing for a rapid conclusion to the “39th and Dalton” trial, attorneys representing three Los Angeles police officers rested their case Thursday after only one defense witness testified.

When the prosecutor, Christopher A. Darden, announced Wednesday that he was resting his case, “my feeling was he just threw in the towel,” said defense lawyer Barry Levin, who represents Capt. Thomas Elfmont.

By that time, Darden had called 25 witnesses. But Levin said he had expected the prosecutor to call at least twice as many.

“We thought the prosecution just gave up,” Levin said, so “the strategy changed.”

As a result, neither Levin nor defense attorney Peter Ferguson, who represented Officer Todd B. Parrick, called any witnesses. Only attorney Michael Stone, who represented Sgt. Charles Spicer, put a witness on the stand Wednesday. Stone called Officer Randall H. Arakawa, who testified on Spicer’s behalf.

For his part, Darden said he called enough witnesses to prove that the three officers should be convicted on misdemeanor charges of vandalism and conspiracy to commit vandalism for their roles in the Aug. 1, 1988, raid on two apartment buildings at 39th Street and Dalton Avenue.

Any more testimony, Darden said, “would have become redundant. These officers acted with malice when they destroyed the homes of people whose homes never should have been subjected to this kind of damage. We have an extremely strong case.”

Four units in the two apartment buildings in South-Central Los Angeles were devastated by police officers looking for narcotics. The Dalton case became the city’s most notorious example of alleged officer misconduct until this year’s Los Angeles police beating of Rodney G. King.

The trial, before Municipal Judge Larry P. Fidler, began April 2. If convicted, the three officers could each serve up to a year in jail and pay a $1,000 fine.

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Wednesday, and jury deliberations could start the next day.