[B]URLINGTON — The public defender who uncovered misrepresentations by a city police officer that led to the officer’s resignation is questioning why the state’s perjury investigation is taking this long.
State police say their probe is complete and the results will be turned over to Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan this week. Donovan said his office will review the information, but he did not offer a timeline for possible criminal charges.
“Our records and reports will be at your immediate disposal and you can expect the full cooperation of all of our employees,” del Pozo wrote.
In video from the body camera Lopez was wearing during an October traffic stop, Lopez says he can’t smell marijuana coming from the stopped car. In a sworn affidavit filed after he arrested the driver, Lopez wrote that he did smell marijuana.
More than a month later, Leroy Yoder, the public defender whose client Michael Mullen spent several months in jail as a result of the traffic stop, said the delay is undermining people’s trust in the justice system.
His clients pay close attention to how police are treated when they’re being investigated, Yoder said, and “when things seem to take longer when there’s police involvement, I hear about it from my clients.”
When a seemingly obvious case of police misconduct occurs, it serves to validate his clients’ grievances against the system, he said, even in cases where those grievances are unfounded.
“It erodes their faith, and I mean, that’s sad,” Yoder said.
Their confidence that the justice system will treat them fairly is further undermined when it appears police are getting special treatment.
“There is the appearance — and I’m using that word ‘appearance’ intentionally — there is the appearance of special treatment” in the Lopez case, Yoder said.
State police Maj. Glenn Hall said Lopez isn’t receiving special treatment. The only detective assigned to the case did a thorough investigation and has other cases he’s responsible for, Hall said.
The investigation involved taped interviews with witnesses, which need to be transcribed and compiled into a report. The report then needs to be reviewed by the detective’s supervisor, Hall said.
“I wouldn’t say this is abnormally long compared to other investigations,” he added.
Yoder said he’s been approached by several private defense attorneys who said they had suspicions Lopez was involved in “shady dealings.”
“State police did reach out to me,” Yoder said. “I gave them very limited feedback based upon my role, but honestly I don’t know why they need to reach out to anyone. They should have the videos and the documents the police officer filed with the court.”
Hall said he could provide no more information on the substance of the Lopez investigation than what had already been reported publicly.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont has raised concerns in the past about the state police investigating officers suspected of crimes. The advocacy group has called for an independent licensing agency to take on that role.
Hall said state police are called on to investigate officers because it’s the largest police agency in the state and has the necessary resources. He said VSP investigations have led to charges against officers, including members of the state police.
In the meantime, Yoder said the defender general’s office will continue to keep a vigilant watch on officers it suspects might be cutting corners or acting in ways that could hurt defendants’ right to equal protection under the law.
“I’m not going to give you any names,” Yoder said.
“We have areas of concern. The problem is this is very few persons that we’re speaking of, but we keep a watchful eye, and we coordinate files and we look for these opportunities, to be quite frank,” he added.
That was the case with Lopez. After reviewing the body camera footage, Yoder said, he was “salivating” at the prospect that the former officer would show up to testify against his client.
Instead, Lopez called prosecutors on the morning of a Feb. 13 hearing for Yoder’s client to say he wouldn’t be able to make it because of the weather, according to a letter George sent to del Pozo. After reviewing the footage from the incident, Lopez told the state’s attorney’s office he had “concerns” about proceeding with the hearing, George wrote.
The state’s attorney’s office later discovered Lopez was never delayed by the weather and had called the office from the Burlington Police Department, George wrote.
