Dallas County to settle lawsuit with whistleblower from fake drug case

At the Dallas News Crime Blog last week, Kevin Krause had a postscript to the Dallas fake-drug scandal, describing the 5-year legal saga over a DA's office investigator fired for blowing the whistle on lying cops who falsified evidence:

[William] Hughes told the feds in 2002 that prosecutors failed to do anything about cops lying under oath in felony drug cases. In 2004, Hughes shared his information with a Dallas County grand jury -- the one that was investigating Dallas' infamous fake drug scandal.

Hughes later accused former District Attorney Bill Hill and others in his office of trying to pressure him into changing his story.

The grand jury determined that Hill and two subordinates did not commit witness tampering.

According to Hughes, at least two cops lied when they testified that they found drugs after random traffic stops. It turned out the suspects had been under surveillance by a federal drug task force, according to Hughes.

One of those cops, former sheriff's deputy Romeo Rodriguez, was fired for perjury.

Hughes also discovered that drug evidence was unavailable for testing because it had been lost or destroyed; witnesses couldn't be found; and some officers intentionally falsified reports and lied in their sworn testimony, according to court records.

Hughes maintained prosecutors ignored his alerts and intentionally negotiated plea deals -- mostly involving poor Hispanics -- when they knew no evidence or witnesses existed.

The county reportedly will settle the suit after fighting it for years rather than go to trial later this month.

N.b., the deputy described was "fired for perjury," but apparently not prosecuted for it. Do you suppose that's what would happen if you or I were found to have lied under oath?