After police raid, bitterness replaces pride for LAPD officer

But under questioning during Franklin's lawsuit, Morgan and Leikam were unable to produce notes from their interviews with the cousin that proved he had pointed them toward Franklin's house. Notes taken by Morgan, in fact, indicate that the cousin had instead described a "burgundy and green house" near Franklin's. In a brief phone interview, the cousin, who is not being identified for his safety, said he did not direct the officers to Franklin's house.

Franklin acknowledged in court that he knew Bond, the accused shooter, vaguely -- hiring him once for a day to work for the private security company he runs on the side. He rejected, however, Leikam's and Morgan's allegation that they had seen Bond enter his house. He was, he said, in Mississippi visiting family that day and his wife testified she had let no one inside.

Eric Rose, the anti-gang officer, meanwhile, was confronted with his testimony from an earlier hearing in the criminal case against Bond and Billups that he had no knowledge of gang activity at Franklin's house. He struggled on the witness stand to explain Leikam's assertion that he had given them incriminating information about the address.

Leikam and Morgan also conceded during testimony that they did not know of any actual instances to support Leikam's assertion in the search warrant of "numerous citizen complaints of gang activity and blatant narcotic sales/use at the location." An internal check by the LAPD shortly after the search showed police had not been called to the house in the previous three years, police records show.

After a day of deliberations, jurors unanimously concluded the officers had "deliberately falsified" information in the warrant affidavit and that their conduct had been "outrageous," according to court records. When asked about the case afterward, several jurors spoke on the condition that their names not be used because of concerns over retaliation by police.

"There were so many things they said that just didn't have the ring of truth," said one juror. "This could have ruined this guy's career."

"It scares me that they could just raid someone's home like that," another said.

If not a mistake, why then had police done it?

In order for Franklin to collect damages, the jury had to find that Morgan and Leikam's actions had been part of a plan to harm him.