November 11, 2004
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Two ex-Miami police officers were given probation in return for testifying against fellow cops about planting guns on unarmed suspects.
BY JAY WEAVER
iweaver@herald.com
Two former Miami police officers, who testified against 11 fellow cops in a major corruption case, walked out of federal court Wednesday evening as free men.
William Hames, 56, and John Mervolion, 49, received three years probation and 250 hours of community service each. They had cut plea deals three years ago and provided insider information on cover-ups of questionable police shootings - crimes they themselves participated in.
Hames and Mervolion said they received death threats after breaking the so-called blue wall of silence. During two trials, their former partners in an elite street-crimes unit called them liars.
"I'm ready to move on with my life," Mervolion said as he left the courthouse, sniffling and wiping tears from his eyes. He has said his mistakes cost him his marriage and strained his relationship with his children.
HELPED MAKE CASE
Hames said he and Mervolion deserved probation rather than prison after helping make what prosecutors say would have otherwise been a nearly impossible case.
"We've been through a lot, both emotionally and financially," Hames said, calling the judge's sentence "fair" and apologizing to the community.
Hames said he regretted his personal failure to tell the truth as investigators began to scrutinize the conspiracy involving police "throw-down" guns to justify four shootings between 1995 and 1997. Three unarmed suspects were killed and another was wounded.
Said Hames: "I wrestled with that for weeks - deciding who was going to get my loyalty, the department or my friends."
Hames, a recovering alcoholic who served in the Vietnam War, has previously said his involvement in a 12-step recovery program helped him take responsibility.
Hames and Mervolion, who had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to obstruct justice, could have received between 2½ and three years in prison under sentencing guidelines.
U.S. District Judge Alan Gold said he agreed with recommendations for a probationary sentence by federal prosecutor Edward Stamm and the officers' defense attorney, Jonathan Rosenthal.
The pair, who each had worked on the force for more than 20 years, testified at trials in 2003 and this year that resulted in the convictions of seven officers on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice. Four other officers were acquitted.
All 13 officers were initially indicted for conspiring to plant guns on unarmed suspects or lying to investigators about the four shootings.
At the trials, Hames and Mervolion painted a broad picture of out-of-control officers stealing guns from drug dealers, wiping them down to remove fingerprints and then planting them at dicey scenes to help justify why an officer fired his weapon.
In the two trials, Mervolion, known as "Big John" because of his towering presence, told jurors he lied under oath when he said robbery suspects Derrick Wiltshire and Antonio Young were armed when police chased them near Interstate 395 nine years ago.
STORY CREATED
Mervolion, who fired a bullet that struck Wiltshire, told jurors the plan to lie about the shooting was hatched the next day at the Bar-B-Q Barn restaurant in North Miami.
Hames - called "Shakespeare" by the other cops because of his ability to write police reports - testified that he devised a story about how Wiltshire and Young fled from a car along with two other men, jumped over an expressway ramp to North Miami Avenue below and pointed weapons at pursuing officers.
In another shooting, Mervolion testified that he stored a throw-down gun given to him by fellow cop Jesus Aguero in his undercover Ford Explorer. The gun later turned up in another questionable shooting in April 1996 involving a fleeing purse snatcher near the Design District.
Mervolion also testified against Aguero, Arturo Beguiristain, Jorge Castello and Oscar Ronda in the 1997 shooting of an unarmed homeless man in Coconut Grove.
The four were convicted last year. Aguero was sentenced to 37 months; Beguiristain to 27 months; and Castello and Ronda to 13 months each. Their appeals are pending.
Three other convicted officers, Israel Gonzalez, Jorge Garcia and Jose Quintero, implicated in the 1-395 shooting, face sentencings on Tuesday.
FREE TO GO HOME: Former Miami police officers John Mervolion, at right above, and William Hames, right, were sentenced Wednesday to three years' probation and 250 hours of community service.
Mid-Trial Offer of Probation for Client
