Detroit: A Judge and two police officers accused of commiting perjury.
Detroit 36th District Court Judge David S. Robinson Jr. said the law told Waterstone that “the fundamental part of our job” was making sure perjury does not get to the jury.
“We do not condone, we do not permit, we do not conceal perjury,” Robinson said, in ordering Waterstone to stand trial on four counts of misconduct in office.
Earlier this morning, Robinson ordered former Inkster Police Officer Robert McArthur to stand trial on charges of conspiracy, perjury and misconduct in office.
The charges come on an effort by former Wayne County chief drug prosecutor Karen Plants to hide the role of the key witness as the secret paid informant in a 47-kilo cocaine bust.
The last defendant in the case, former Inkster Police Sgt. Scott Rechtzigel, was also ordered to stand trial on perjury and conspiracy charges carrying a potential life sentence.
Chad Povish, the paid informant who says police and Wayne County's top drug prosecutor told him to lie in court, testified Monday that he was ready to sue when he wasn't fully paid after helping engineer a 47-kilo cocaine bust.
Povish said he met with former federal prosecutor-turned-high-profile defense lawyer Richard Convertino when he didn't get his expected 10-20% cut of the value of dope and property seized in the 2005 arrest of Alexander Aceval in the scandal-tainted drug case
Links:
http://www.freep.com/article/20101013/NEWS02/101013031/1320/Ex-judge-cops-ordered-to-stand-trial#ixzz12GoowHvt
http://www.freep.com/article/20101012/NEWS01/10120356/-1/NEWS0301/Witness-Police-prosecutor-coached-me