Three Days Too Many

Not addressed in the hearing was the underlying issue of whether Beasley even determined who had the truck during the robbery, regardless of whether there was a drug deal involved. There was no indication that Beasley followed up on the phone number or Joubert's street alias to try to discover his identity. And the innocent defendant at the time -- Haye -- was never interrogated about the information.

Moore found that Beasley acted logically in ending his quest for information about the truck. Garcia argued that the revelation of a crack deal "should have raised more questions than it answered and caused more investigation to be done."

Hoffman attacked HPD's disciplinary action as "Monday-morning quarterbacking" and "20-20 hindsight" regarding information later developed in the Joubert capital murder investigation.

The assistant city attorney said the suspension would be justified merely by Beasley failing to act after learning about the photos of Joubert in the Vokal jacket. Police officers, Garcia said, are sworn to protect citizens -- "and that also means protecting innocent citizens" like Haye.

"The city believes that three days [of suspension] is awfully light, compared to the 11 months for Desmond Haye," she argued.

Moore found that HPD has no specific protocol for criminal investigations, so officers rely on independent judgment. He said he would "never presume to suggest" how HPD should conduct a criminal investigation.

Based on the clerk's initial identification of Haye's photo and other factors, the arbitrator said Beasley reached logical conclusions. Beasley "had the responsibility and he carried it out as he saw it."

Private investigator Cunningham said he was sure the hearing examiner was well intentioned, but he believes Moore must not be knowledgeable about the basics of sound police investigative work.

"The question is simply one of using common sense," Cunningham said. "I only know that if Beasley was a federal agent, he wouldn't have had a three-day suspension -- he would have been fired for what happened in this case."