Bailiffs Reluctant to Discuss Case : Courtroom Watchdogs Move Uneasily Into Spotlight

They serve as keepers of the courtroom.

They usher jurors and defendants in and out, and shush talkers into silence in the presence of the judge. Some operate metal detectors for frisking visitors. Others refill their judges’ water pitchers.

“In some cases, it becomes like they’re married to them,” Sheriff John Duffy scoffed Thursday, describing the relationship between some bailiffs and judges. “If the judge takes off on vacation, (the bailiff) wants to take a vacation. When the judge isn’t working, (the bailiff) wants to sit in the courtroom when it’s dark.”

On Thursday, the small army of deputy marshals that serve as bailiffs in the county’s Superior and Municipal courts lurched suddenly into the public spotlight. Deputy Marshal Al Burroughs Jr. had been accused of tampering with the jury that convicted Mayor Roger Hedgecock.

Uncomfortable with the scrutiny, the county marshal’s office clammed up, declining even to release marshals’ job descriptions. Michael Sgobba, the head of the office, dispatched a secretary to read a terse statement dismissing the charges as “raw newspaper allegations” and “basically not true.”

But by late afternoon, a spokesman for Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller announced that Sgobba and Miller were asking the state attorney general to investigate the charges. The statement said Sgobba had “new information” and had agreed that an investigation was required.

“I wish it was a bad dream,” said Duffy, who worked as a bailiff when he was a deputy sheriff and once applied for the job of county marshal. “ . . . It’s absolutely elementary that bailiff does not attempt at all to influence the jury and does not converse with them in any fashion about the case.”

For one thing, Duffy pointed out, bailiffs take an oath governing their dealings with every jury. The oath binds them to “permit no person to speak with them or communicate with them, nor will you speak with them yourself unless by order of the court.”

“It’s a very sensitive responsibility,” Duffy said.

In the county courthouse Thursday, most of the deputy marshals and marshal sergeants refused flatly to talk about their work. Going about their duties in their familiar olive drab, they hastily referred all inquiries to Sgobba’s office.

But a few spoke briefly about the job, which they almost unanimously said appealed to them for its comfortable hours. Graduates of police academies, they carry guns and enjoy the salaries of the more active sheriff’s deputies. But the hours are usually 8 to 5.

“We don’t have a graveyard shift,” one deputy marshal said simply, explaining his and others’ job choice. “That would be the main reason. Most of the people, I understand, are family-oriented.”

Some said they were former policemen; others said they were former deputy sheriffs. One, studying contract law in a courtroom over lunch, said he switched out of the Police Department so he wouldn’t have to work late while in law school.

It’s a job, not an adventure, some said: Emergencies consist of fainting jurors. One officer said he could recall no bomb threats or shooting incidents. The most recent “emergency” was the Hedgecock verdict, when the office strenghtened security around the courtroom.

There is paper work to be ferried from the presiding judge, and handcuffed defendants to be escorted to and from County Jail. The deputy marshals call the courtroom to order in the morning and lock up at lunch. They are charged with protecting the judge, juries and witnesses throughout the day, and with closing up at night. When necessary, they serve warrants.

“Low-profile” was the way one sergeant described the work. As a result, he said, deputy marshals and others are “gun-shy” about publicity. “People misinterpret things,” he said. Then he referred further questions to Sgobba.

One marshal sergeant in the Los Angeles County marshal’s office tried to explain the often close connection and communication between bailiff and judge.

“It’s more of a relationship between the two: After you work for a judge for a while, you know what he expects,” said Sgt. Richard McChesney. “You’re going to find some judges very lenient with the public being in the courtroom. Other judges feel this is a court of law, they don’t want anyone reading newspapers. A judge may want a certain type of dress in the courtroom because he feels, like I say, it’s a court of law.”

One San Diego County deputy marshal said: “There are some who get to know the judges pretty well. Me, I kept it professional.”

In most counties, the Superior Court bailiffs come from the office of the county sheriff, who is elected at large. But in San Diego, the Superior Court bailiffs come from the office of the marshal, who is chosen by the Municipal Court judges.

Duffy, whose office formerly served the Superior Court, tried in the early 1980s to take over serving the Municipal Court from the marshal. Sgobba won the well-publicized battle and got both the Municipal and Superior courts. Duffy remains critical of the arrangement.

“The marshal is accountable to nobody on earth except the judges--the Municipal Court judges who appoint him,” said Duffy. He suggested he lost the fight because he had irritated judges by refusing to allow his deputies to serve as “lackeys.”

For example, Duffy said he insisted that officers rotate in and out of courtrooms regularly. Duffy claimed, “I would get a call from a judge on more than one occasion telling me that he couldn’t stand to give up his bailiff, that they work well together.”

On the whole, marshal’s offices rarely appear in the news.

But in 1974, former Los Angeles Marshal Timothy Sperl was sentenced to six months in jail on a conviction stemming from charges that he had sent deputy marshals to Sacramento to lobby for legislation, and that deputy marshals had repeatedly provided transportation to an influential state assemblyman and sold tickets to one of his fund-raising dinners.

In San Diego, Duffy recalled a grand jury investigation during the 1970s into allegations that members of the marshal’s office had provided services to judges beyond their prescribed duties. He said one allegation involved providing transportation to friends and relatives of judges.