Justice falls victim to flawed convictions

It's easy to think of shady police work as a victimless crime.

Really, who's being hurt when cops bend the evidence against a bad guy -- or the crime lab gets sloppy or a prosecution witness is nudged toward a lie? Is it mostly guilty people being ushered off to jail?

Maybe it is.

But when police and prosecutors lose their credibility, even in pursuit of real criminals, the whole justice system can be undermined. We keep learning this one the hard way.

Was it just one bad officer? Or did the problems go deeper into the now-disbanded street-crimes unit of the Southampton Police Department -- and beyond? How many more convictions will have to be vacated? How will the wrongly convicted be paid back? Who will pay for that? And what does all this do to the credibility of honest prosecutors and police?

One officer's behavior, one big mess.

1. "The sooner you tell me what happened, the sooner you can go home."

2. "Your friend's the one we're really after."

3. "We're putting you in the lineup for your own protection."

4. "Why waste your money on a lawyer?"

5. "No one gets jail time for something like this."

We're not quite the DR yet. But Long Island does breed the occasional major league pitching prospect, as folks in Toronto know well. They came to love lefthanded reliever Bill Koch of Rockville Centre. Now, they're paying extra-close attention to lanky lefty Sean Nolin, a 6-foot-5, 22-year-old Seaford native who is suddenly burning up the Advanced-A Florida State League. With the rare distinction of having been drafted three straight Junes (Brewers, Mariners, Blue Jays), Nolin opened his Dunedin Blue Jays' season 5-0 with a 2.31 ERA and 53 strikeouts -- and looking very commanding on the mound. OK, he's still a few miles from the bright lights of Rogers Centre. But Toronto baseball fans are suddenly being regaled with warm remembrances of Seaford coaches Mike Malano and Jamie Adams. Both men always talked "about showing up for every game, about giving your best," the young LI pitcher told the Toronto Sun.

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