Unbelievable

The judge declared the Notorious B.I.G. civil suit a mistrial yesterday and the prickly problems of Rampart just refuse to stay buried. The trial seemed doomed from the start with witnesses getting "amnesia" and other ailments that would limit their testimony. It came to a head last week when the Wallace family attorney got an anonymous phone call that he was missing several key pieces of evidence from the LAPD. Detective Steven Katz, who was set to testify in the case, simply "forgot" about the file and tapes that support the family's claim that former officers Rafael Perez and David Mack were involved in the shooting death of the Notorious B.I.G.

We thought this case was rife with movie quality intrigue but the police hiding documents never really came into our minds. Now we have to wonder what other files in other cases are being "misplaced" in order to seemingly take the heat off of our police force in cases of alleged misconduct?