With charges dismissed, Oakland Riders want jobs back

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 6/11/5 | Jim Herron Zamora

[SmithL]

For nearly five years they have been vilified in court, in public and in the media. Their nickname -- the Riders -- has become synonymous with rogue cops.

Now, after twice successfully fending off criminal charges, the three former officers at the center of Oakland's biggest police scandal in decades want to patrol the city's streets once again.

"Some people think I'm crazy, but I just want my old job back, the same shift and everything,'' Jude Siapno, 36, one of two former Riders defendants told The Chronicle on Friday in his first interview since they were charged in 2000. "I wanted to be an Oakland police officer since I was little. ... It was wrong to take that away from me. I want that back."

The officers had been accused of routinely framing and beating drug suspects while patrolling West Oakland in 2000, then falsifying reports to hide their crimes.

Last week, an Alameda County judge dismissed all charges against Siapno and Clarence "Chuck" Mabanag, 39, after their two previous trials resulted in mistrials when jurors deadlocked on most of the charges against them. Although convinced of their guilt, District Attorney Tom Orloff said he would no longer press the case because he does not believe a jury would convict them.

In another blow to Orloff, a jury last month found a third defendant, Matthew Hornung, 33, not guilty of all charges. A fourth fired officer, Francisco "Frank" Vazquez, the alleged ringleader, has been a fugitive since Alameda County prosecutors filed charges in November 2000.

[jokar]

Riders on the Storm ? _Jim Morrison bump