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| | Blame it on the Claim By Robert Warne - May 19, 2003
There’s something about standing before a judge that drives a defendant to a level of desperate creativity when it comes to piecing together the perfect alibi. Ruben Palomares, in facing a minimum sentence of 15 years for federal drug trafficking is a prime example of this phenomenon in action. Rivaling the Twinkie defense, Palomares’ lawyer came up with the work comp defense.
The one time LAPD Rampart Division officer’s lawyer argued that Palomares’ troubles began with an on-duty shoulder injury. Unable to work, and fearing the day his work comp would run out, he began taking pills and collecting debts for drug dealers.
Palomares’ desperate circumstances the lawyer agued, are to blame for why he was caught trying to buy 10 kilograms of cocaine from undercover DEA agents. They are also to blame for why he is accused of running a criminal organization of friends, relatives and other officers who committed robberies, sometimes while dressed in police uniforms and driving squad cars taken from the Los Angeles Police Academy.
And it doesn’t end there; Palomares and three others are also being investigated in connection with an unsolved murder in Huntington Park, according to detectives.
U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Whelan wasn’t moved by the bad claim story and didn’t reduce Palomares’ sentence as requested by the defense for his cooperation in the investigation. |