CITY SETTLES SUITS OVER DRUG CASES

Detectives Used Forged Warrants

Louisville metro government has agreed to pay $30,000 to settle two
lawsuits involving two former narcotics detectives involved in
Jefferson County's largest police scandal in decades.

"We believe they are reasonable settlements," said Bill Patteson, a
spokesman for the Jefferson County Attorney's Office, which defended
the metro government.

The civil lawsuits stem from more than 50 criminal cases involving
former detectives Mark Watson and Christie Richardson in which charges
were dismissed or convictions erased because of the two detectives'
conduct. Watson is serving a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty in
January 2003 to 299 felonies and three misdemeanors for using
photocopied judges' signatures on search warrants and using them to
enter people's homes. Richardson is on probation after a jury
convicted her in February 2003 on 20 felony charges, including 19
counts of tampering with public records and one count of criminal
possession of a forged instrument. The jury also found her guilty of
official misconduct, a misdemeanor.

In the first settlement, the government agreed to pay $10,000 to
George Spencer III, who claimed that Watson and Richardson entered his
apartment unlawfully with an invalid search warrant that led to his
arrest in 1999 on drug charges.

Spencer entered an Alford plea to the charges, acknowledging the
evidence was sufficient to produce a guilty verdict but maintaining
his innocence. His conviction was set aside in August 2002.

The settlement provides Spencer with some closure, said Brian Good,
Spencer's attorney.

"Under the facts and circumstances we're satisfied with the outcome,"
Good said. ". In his eyes the damage has been done. It's hard to undo
prison time." In the second settled lawsuit, the county agreed to pay
$10,000 each to Walter Elliott and his mother, Connie Elliott,
Patteson said. Attempts to contact the Elliotts and their attorney
were unsuccessful this week. Walter Elliott and his mother have said
that Watson and Richardson forged a judge's signature and fabricated a
search warrant to enter their West Muhammad Ali Boulevard apartment in
January 2000.

Walter Elliott eventually pleaded guilty to drug trafficking. The
conviction was set aside in March 2002. Charges against his mother
were dismissed, the suit said.

Three other lawsuits against the metro government alleging
civil-rights violations by Watson and Richardson are still pending,
including one that seeks class-action status.

The settlements do not affect the pending cases, Patteson said. "We
take each case on its own merits."

A federal judge dismissed a sixth lawsuit against the metro government
earlier this year after granting a motion for summary judgment. U.S.
District Judge Charles R. Simpson III ruled that Roney Grigsby waited
too long to sue.

Grigsby said that Watson and Richardson used a forged warrant in
October 1999 to enter a Heywood Avenue residence and confiscate $285
and three guns belonging to him. Criminal charges were dismissed, but
Grigsby said he never got the property back.