How Safe Is Immunity?

Federal panel indicts ex-officer despite deal with state

Florida prosecutors made Charles Veverka an offer he could not refuse: tell in court what he knew about the beating he and nine fellow Dade County police officers administered to black Businessman Arthur McDuffie, who later died, and his legal problems would be over. Veverka agreed, and the state granted him immunity. But last week a federal grand jury indicted Veverka on four counts of violating McDuffie's civil rights. It was the only indictment handed up so far by the jury. Said Veverka, who could face fines of $21,500 and up to 26 years in prison if convicted: "Because I told the truth, I'm the one getting screwed."

Veverka first went to state prosecutors in December, nine days after the incident. He admitted getting into a scuffle and punching McDuffie, who had been speeding on a motorcycle. He also said that after other officers arrived at the scene and joined in the beating, which he tried to stop, he helped cover up the incident and lied about it to the department's investigators. On Jan. 31 he returned and provided more details. It was only after that second session that Veverka was granted immunity in exchange for his agreement to testify in court. In May an all-white jury acquitted four officers of charges ranging from cover-up to murder. The verdict touched off three days of rioting in black neighborhoods of Miami, and the federal grand jury was convened to look into the situation.

Federal prosecutors may have built their case against Veverka in part on his admissions during the two pretrial interviews. Veverka's lawyers, Douglas Hartman and Denis Dean, are expected to argue that the grant of immunity was retroactive, thus shielding all their client's confessions from use by the Justice Department. Says Hartman: "It's a very sad day when the state takes a man, uses him to the hilt, and then the Feds come in and react to political pressure and indict him. We feel Veverka has been betrayed by the judicial system." Veverka thinks the message to police elsewhere will be clear: if you are tempted to come forward with the truth in a misconduct case, don't.

To some, the indictment smacks of double jeopardy. David Robinson, a professor at George Washington Law School, comments that the charges "seem to run counter to the policy of the double jeopardy clause" even if they do not precisely violate it. Says Robinson: "It's a nasty case any way you look at it." Actually, the clause, part of the Fifth Amendment, simply precludes Florida from trying one of the defendants a second time for the same incident, and strictly speaking, Veverka was never put on trial. Any one of the participants in the beating is fair game for federal prosecutors, who in recent years have pursued several civil rights cases against defendants who first fought state charges. So the only question in Veverka's case is whether such action constitutes, as Hartman puts it, a "reneging on the contract of immunity."

Veverka, 29, was fired from the force, tried unsuccessfully to get reinstated, and is now working as a security guard and trying to start a landscaping business. He says he and his family have been subjected to "harassment and abuse" because of his decision to testify against the other officers. Prior to his indictment, prosecutors proposed that he plead guilty to only one charge, with a maximum sentence of five years, but Veverka turned them down. This tune, he says, he is making no deals.

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