FBI Agent Contradicts Sobel Statements : Courts: He says the key witness in the trial of six narcotics officers made only minor changes in interview reports. The issue may lead to a mistrial.

Contradicting a key prosecution witness, an FBI agent testified Friday that Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert R. Sobel made only minor amendments to his FBI interview report and that a final report reflected the changes.

FBI agent Robert Hightower took the witness stand as federal prosecutors attempted to head off a mistrial in the civil rights trial of six Los Angeles County narcotics officers.

U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi had declared a mistrial on Thursday but agreed to delay imposition of his ruling to give the government time to prepare legal arguments and present testimony from Hightower and another FBI agent who had destroyed a corrected version of key interviews with Sobel.

Defense attorneys had asked the judge to declare a mistrial after asserting that they needed the corrected reports to question Sobel and determine if there were any inconsistencies in his testimony.

As the key prosecution witness, Sobel had spent several weeks testifying against the five sheriff’s deputies and one Los Angeles police officer accused of beating drug dealers, skimming drug money and planting narcotics on drug suspects.

Under cross-examination, however, the ex-sergeant’s testimony conflicted with some of his statements contained in FBI interviews.

When defense attorneys pressed him, Sobel startled both defense attorneys and prosecutors by revealing that he had informed FBI agents about mistakes in their reports and had amended them.

In all, Sobel testified that he made more than 140 changes in two key reports covering a half-dozen interviews in 1989. And he said the revisions included substantial changes regarding alleged misconduct by defendants.

But Hightower, the FBI case agent, testified Friday that Sobel only suggested 15 changes--virtually all of them spelling corrections or other minor fixes.

When asked to identify any specific change, Hightower said he could only recall that Sobel mentioned that the names of two deputies had been mistakenly switched in one section of the report.

“Other than that name change, I don’t recall any other changes,” said Hightower who testified outside the jury’s presence.

After his meeting with Sobel, Hightower said he threw away his first drafts of his interview reports because “they weren’t the final product, just a rough draft.”

The federal agent, now working in the Austin, Tex., office, conceded it was highly unusual for an FBI agent to allow a witness to review his FBI report. “I don’t recall ever having done it before,” said Hightower, a seven-year FBI veteran.

Under questioning from defense attorneys, Hightower said the instructions to allow Sobel to review the report “probably” came from Assistant U.S. Atty. Thomas Hagemann who, at the time, was directing the corruption investigation.

Defense attorney Larry Bakman said the missing documents were essential because they could be used to impeach Sobel, the only narcotics officer to testify against the defendants.

“That’s the problem. Without those (documents), we cannot determine what existed,” said Bakman, who was cross-examining Sobel when the 2-month-old trial was abruptly halted.

Outside court, Bakman said he was prepared to question Sobel about many inconsistencies, including a dozen regarding Sobel’s testimony about a drug dealer called Freeway Ricky Ross.

Bakman said some of the inconsistencies involved his client, Deputy John L. Edner, and Sobel’s allegations that Edner fired a shot at an unarmed Ross.

In his FBI report, Sobel said another defendant, LAPD Detective Stephen W. Polak, told him not to photograph a kilogram of cocaine stolen during a drug raid. According to the report, Polak told Sobel he wanted to later “plant it” on Ross when officers caught him.

In his testimony, however, Sobel denied that he heard Polak say that. Then he testified that he had advised FBI agents of the error in their reports and was allowed to make corrections.

But Hightower later testified that he--not Sobel--amended the reports.

Hightower also disputed Sobel’s assertion that the agent had provided him with a highlighter and pencil to make changes in the report.

“I don’t think I would have given him a highlighter,” Hightower said, “because I never carry one.”

Although he contradicted Sobel, Hightower said Friday that he thought the ex-sergeant remains a credible witness. “I think he’s being truthful,” said the agent, who added that he had developed a friendly relationship with Sobel.

Hightower described how investigators and prosecutors were excited when they first learned that Sobel had agreed to cooperate in the probe of narcotics officers. During that first meeting, Hightower said Sobel was interviewed in a hotel conference room and appeared “very depressed, suicidal I would think.”

“He was chain-smoking cigarettes, physically shaking at times, breaking into tears at times,” the agent testified.

Another FBI agent, Charles Teevan, is expected to testify Tuesday. He has told prosecutors that only minor changes were made in his FBI report on Sobel. Both agents turned over their notes to defense attorneys.