LAPD Framed 24-Year-Old For Murder, Lawsuit Alleges

Spent more than a year in jail before being acquitted

Shay Sowden/flickr

The LAPD is facing a lawsuit from Roy Galvan, a 24-year-old father who spent more than a year in jail before being tried and acquitted for a murder he says police tried to frame him for. Via NBC Los Angeles:

[The lawsuit] accuses LAPD Officers Miguel Terrazas, David Nunn and Richard Arciniega of destroying evidence in the case, falsifying reports and bribing witnesses for statements, false arrest and malicious prosecution, among other claims of misconduct and civil rights violations…

Galvan claims the officers who took him to trial strong-armed, bribed and refused to investigate "several" potential witnesses, including two homeless people – Mark Loving and Syrella Carpenter, who had paranoid schizophrenia – living in a tent near the shooting scene.

The lawsuit alleges Loving and Carpenter were paid nearly $10,000 for their false testimony, and that the police requests for city checks for the two were submitted into evidence during Galvan's trial. Other witnesses were allegedly promised they would not face deportation if they provided false testimony. The lawsuit also claims other eyewitnesses fingered a different suspect, but that cops did not interview him.

The police officers named in the lawsuit appear to remain with the LAPD. You can read the entire complaint here (pdf), via NBC.

Comments

[jesse.in.mb]

LA area cops have been especially shitty for the last year or so, no?

[mad libertarian guy]

LA area cops have been especially shitty for the last year or so, no?

Yes. But they've also been exceptionally shitty every year since their inception as a department too. Just ask NWA.

[jesse.in.mb]

I read that one of the reasons West Hollywood incorporated was so that they could escape the LAPD. I think maintaining rent control when LA phased it out was another one though.

[Doctor Whom]

West Hollywood was never part of the City of Los Angeles and was therefore never under the jurisdiction of the LAPD. Instead, it was under the jurisdiction of the county. More lax law enforcement by the county allowed WeHo to become a party town.

[GILMORE]

"Loving and Carpenter were paid nearly $10,000 for their false testimony, and that the police requests for city checks for the two were submitted into evidence during Galvan's trial."

They bought out the witnesses with *city money*?

C'mon guys. if you're going to frame a guy for murder, at least *kick in something*. Do you not get enough overtime cash already? You cheap fucks: back in the day, cops had to buy their drop guns on the street with their own money, and you couldn't just 'requisition' that leftover herion to drop on a dead bystander. You people are a lazy disgrace to law enforcement.

[Brett L]

I thought the whole point of the evidence locker was to have a stash of guns, money and dope for just these purposes.

[WTF]

New Professionalism.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Nothing to see here, move along citizen.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

He was acquitted, wasn't he? The system worked! What's he bitching about?

/sarc

[pan fried wylie]

refused to investigate "several" potential witnesses, including two homeless people ? Mark Loving and Syrella Carpenter, who had paranoid schizophrenia

Crappy, but I'm sure Loving and Carpenter appreciate not being curbstomped to death.

[Octavia Carpenter]

The woman mentioned, Syrella Carpenter, is my mother. I have been searching for her since i was eleven. I am now 26. Looking for her around every corner, in every face, jumping every time a phone rings. This is the first mention of her online-Any where. I was relieved not to find an obituary. After visiting and physically looking for her- i still had not found her.

I can't believe that I know where she is and that she could've been helped. Instead she is suffering from mental illness the police did not think contact her family but take advantage of her defect in order to frame some apparently innocent man.

If any information regarding this story, this woman, and where she is can be made available to me- please contact me at [e-mail]

[AustinRoth]

Again - cops are a criminal gang composed of those lucky enough not to get incarcerated prior to joining the force, with a small minority of cops who, while not directly corrupt, aid and abet their criminal brethren through the Blue Shield.

[Octavia Carpenter]

The woman mentioned, Syrella Carpenter, is my mother. I have been searching for her since i was eleven. I am now 26. Looking for her around every corner, in every face, jumping every time a phone rings. This is the first mention of her online-Any where. I was relieved not to find an obituary. After visiting and physically looking for her- i still had not found her.

I can't believe that I know where she is and that she could've been helped. Instead she is suffering from mental illness the police did not think contact her family but take advantage of her defect in order to frame some apparently innocent man.

If any information regarding this story, this woman, and where she is can be made available to me- please contact me at [e-mail]