Officer in Fatal Raid Gets Probation

The Colorado police officer who signed an erroneous search warrant that led to a fatal no-knock raid last year has been sentenced to a year of probation. Denver District Judge Shelley Gilman also sentenced Joseph Bini to 150 hours of community service for his role in the death of Ismael Mena, a Mexican immigrant killed in the Sept. 29, 1999, raid. Bini pleaded guilty in October to a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct. The officer signed a request for a search warrant that listed the wrong address. Investigators meant to raid the house next door. Bini, who was suspended without pay after he was charged in February, still faces disciplinary action from the police department. Under the plea agreement, Bini could return to the department. Bini, 32, cried momentarily in the courtroom when he spoke to the judge, saying he made “a mistake of the mind and not the heart.”