Metro Police may be charged in death again

Friday, Aug. 20, 1999 | 3:37 a.m.

In the wake of ex-police officer Christopher Brady pleading guilty to charges related to the shooting death of a 21-year-old Hispanic man, the attorney for the dead man's family wants a judge to reconsider Metro Police Department as a co-defendant in a federal lawsuit.

In June, U.S. District Judge Philip Pro issued a summary judgment dismissing the department and Sheriff Jerry Keller from the suit filed by Ramon Mendoza against ex-cop Ron Mortensen.

Mendoza is the father of Daniel Mendoza, who was killed in a drive-by shooting on Dec. 28, 1996.

Mortensen was convicted of killing the 21-year-old man and was sentenced to life in prison. Thursday, ex-cop Christopher Brady pleaded guilty to one count of a civil rights violation and was sentenced to nine years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Attorney Kenneth Roberts said at a news conference Thursday that Brady admitted to being part of a conspiracy.

"As a result of this information we will take appropriate steps to ask the judge to reconsider his summary judgment," Roberts said. "We didn't know and the judge didn't know (at the time of the summary judgment) about the conspiracy."

He said it is clear from Brady's admission of guilt that the conspiracy was directly linked to his and Mortensen's employment as police officers and that Metro had an opportunity to prevent Daniel Mendoza's death and failed to do so.

"We intend to immediately file a request with the federal court to reconsider its recent summary judgment," Roberts said.

Roberts has accused the police department of "stonewalling" him in his attempt to seek justice.

"I have never found it so difficult to get important information from the other side," Roberts said.

Brady's attorney, Daniel Albregts, said at a news conference Thursday that the guilty plea will "adversely affect Brady's ability to defend the civil lawsuit" against him by the Mendoza family.

A guilty plea or a conviction in a criminal case legally constitutes a finding of liability in a companion civil case.

Albregts noted, however, that because Brady is going to prison for nine years and has minimal assets, it is unlikely any civil judgment would be collectable.

Sheriff Jerry Keller, in an earlier press conference Thursday, said Brady's guilty plea has brought closure to the case.

But Roberts and Ramon Mendoza disagree.

They don't believe there will be closure until all the facts in the case are revealed.

"We were pleased today to see the results of the federal investigation," Roberts said. "We think that was a good step in the right direction to discover what happened. We don't think the complete story has come out. There were previous incidents, over the months, maybe a year, that should have alerted Metro that there was a problem."

Roberts said the grand jury noted there was a conspiracy that involved other people "known and unknown."