We started a new archive category today--Misconduct--to cover injustice news related to police and prosecutorial misconduct. Such as the news that the Los Angeles City Council has agreed to pay a $1.3 million settlement in the case of a police officer who raped women while on official duty on three separate occasions.

Former Officer Joseph Evan Robinson, 27, was convicted this year of raping the women while on duty. The former 77th Street Division patrol officer, who had been relieved of duty in April 2002, is serving three consecutive life terms.

In the first case, Robinson and his partner confronted a woman in January 2002 as she sat in a car with her boyfriend at 64th and Figueroa streets. Prosecutors said Robinson determined the woman had an outstanding warrant, then took her to an alley out of sight of his partner and her boyfriend, and raped her, according to a probation report.

Two weeks later, Robinson handcuffed and sexually assaulted a woman in a Figueroa Street motel room after allegedly finding marijuana in the room she shared with a boyfriend, according to a probation report.

A month later, Robinson forced a woman from a bus stop at 47th Street and Figueroa into his patrol car and drove her several blocks away, where he handcuffed and raped her, the report said.

The category will include future posts pertaining to lab fraud, withholding of exculpatory evidence, false forced confessions, etc. Feel free to e-mail tips.