Mortensen’s attorney says deal for witness tainted trial

Bill Gang

Wednesday, June 16, 1999 | 10:34 a.m.

A decision could be made by the end of the month in the latest move to win a new trial for Ron Mortensen, the former Metro Police officer who was convicted of a fatal drive-by shooting.

The issue Tuesday was whether a key witness in the trial received favorable treatment in his own criminal case in exchange for his testimony.

Deputy District Attorney Bill Koot told District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski during a brief hearing that there were no deals with Ruben Ramirez or other witnesses who said they saw their friend, 21-year-old Daniel Mendoza, gunned down by bullets fired from a truck.

The judge ordered Koot to put his statements into an affidavit and file it by June 25. A decision will follow.

The driver of the truck, then-Officer Christopher Brady, came forward two days after the Dec. 28, 1996, incident and told homicide detectives that Mortensen, who was the passenger, had fired the shots.

At his trial Mortensen said it was Brady who leaned across the truck and fired the fatal bullets using Mortensen's gun.

Witnesses, including Ramirez, testified the passenger clearly was the gunman outside an apartment building on McKellar Circle, a high crime area near Paradise Road and Twain Avenue.

Ramirez was charged in a March 31, 1997, "beer run" theft at a convenience store during which a clerk was struck in the head with a metal pipe and kicked.

A week before he testified against Mortensen, Ramirez pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor on April 23, 1997, and was given probation.

Mortensen's attorney, Frank Cremen, has suggested that constituted a benefit to the witness that warrants a new trial for Mortensen.

Ramirez was the only witness who was able to pick out Mortensen in a lineup a few days after the murder.