Judge wipes out alleged pushers' and users' convictions

A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge reversed 110 convictions of alleged drug pushers and users Friday, the biggest single-day action in the city's history of police scandals.

About 450 cases have now been dumped by judges since the beginning of 2014, all tainted by allegedly corrupt officers. Some of those defendants have already served their sentences or may walk free. But others will likely stay behind bars, as they were also convicted on charges involving untainted officers.

Often taking only 15 seconds for a reversal, Judge Sheila Woods-Skipper granted the prosecutor's motions to dismiss the cases of people arrested by a group of former officers who themselves are facing federal criminal charges.

Public Defender Bradley S. Bridge said courts will need to handle hundreds more cases of the former drug officers, who ranked as some of the city's most prolific in making arrests until federal prosecutors indicted them.

"This is the biggest day in the city's long, sordid history of police corruption," said Bridge, who for 20 years has worked to reverse the drug cases brought by officers arrested on corruption charges.

He applauded the District Attorney's Office for working with the public defenders to determine which cases should be dismissed.

The current police scandal - in which one former officer has pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges and six others are awaiting trial - already involves more dismissals than ever before in Philadelphia.

Police investigators, working jointly with the FBI, determined that seven officers from the Narcotics Field Unit could not be trusted. The District Attorney's Office in 2012 stopped prosecuting arrests made by the officers.

The allegations include planting drugs, beating suspects, and other civil rights violations.

Even with the new reversals, there may be few get-out-of-jail-free cards, because some of the people are serving time on more than one arrest.

Pedro L. Alvarado, 50, is in prison on a seven- to 22-year sentence from 2009. While the arresting officer in his dismissed case was Thomas Liciardello, the alleged ringleader of the seven, Alvarado is also serving time on arrests by other officers not implicated in the scandal.

The District Attorney's Office has been dismissing cases that were supported only by testimony of the accused officers.

About a third of those cases involved former narcotics officer Jeffrey Walker, who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges and is expected to testify against the other six.

In addition to Liciardello, they are Brian Reynolds, Michael Spicer, Perry Betts, Linwood Norman, and John Speiser.

About 100 people who have had their cases reversed are suing the city, many claiming that they were framed and that police turned a blind eye to corruption.

Taxpayers foot the bill for settlements or judgments. In the 1990s, a smaller scandal in the 39th District in North Philadelphia cost the city about $4 million in payouts.