POLICE BRIEFS

RODMAN’S ROWDINESS NOT DISTURBING ON PURPOSE

His neighbors may have had enough of him, but Dennis Rodman just wants

to have a little fun, a representative for the former basketball player

said Wednesday.

“Dennis likes to have fun and that’s all there is to it,” said Jill

Smooler, one of Rodman’s agents. “He is no different from any of the

other residents there. No different.”

His neighbors disagree, however, and have called police to Rodman’s

home six times this year -- more than to any other house in the city.

Some of the former hoopster’s neighbors told police why. “I think

people who live in the area are tolerant of the typical noise, but

(Rodman) has stretched them to the limit,” said Newport Beach Police Sgt.

Mike McDermott.

The most recent police visit was on Sunday night following his arrest

on suspicion of public drunkenness.

Overall, police have had to fine the onetime Los Angeles Laker $2,500

this year alone, McDermott said.

But Rodman isn’t doing anything on purpose, Smooler said.

“If he is disturbing anyone, it’s not intentional,” Smooler said.

“He’s lived there for a couple of years now and as far as commenting on

what they are saying about him and (his partying), he really has no other

comment.”

SUSPECT IN FEBRUARY SHOOTING ACQUITTED

After a week of trying to prove a 17-year-old Costa Mesa boy was a

willing participant in a gang-related shooting in February, prosecutors

were discouraged to learn Wednesday that a judge acquitted the underage

defendant for lack of evidence.

The boy, who was facing attempted murder charges, spent the last six

months in jail awaiting trial. His attorney, James Cesena, said the case

against his client was botched from the beginning and the judge’s

decision midway through the trial validates his thoughts.

“The prosecution couldn’t even prove my client was even there at the

crime scene,” Cesena said. “I made a motion to dismiss the case and the

judge ruled in our favor.”

Cesena’s client was allegedly an accomplice in a Feb. 21 shooting on

Shalimar Avenue. The boy reportedly was in the company of codefendant

Cesar Zetina-Michua, 24, who police say was the triggerman who riddled a

Chrysler New Yorker with bullets. Police said Michua thought the people

inside the car were rival gang members, prompting him to fire two shots

from a 12-gauge shotgun at the car. The back window of the car was

knocked out but no one was injured.

Although Michua still is on trial, the teenage boy was set free.

Cesena doesn’t deny his client knows Michua or that he was visiting his

girlfriend who lived across the street from where the shooting took

place. But there wasn’t any evidence, he claims, that tied the boy

directly to the shooting.

“Neither of the victims could identify my client,” he said. “Just

because you were there doesn’t make you liable.”