1 of McMartin Case Prosecutors Resigns : Deputy D.A. Had Expressed Doubt That Most Defendants Were Guilty

A prosecutor who was removed from the McMartin Pre-School molestation case after expressing doubts about the strength of the evidence and the guilt of some of the defendants has resigned from the district attorney’s office to join a group of criminal defense lawyers.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Glenn Stevens, 33, one of three prosecutors who handled the preliminary hearing, said he will join the Alternate Defense Counsel, a new county-funded legal group that began representing indigent defendants in felony cases in the downtown Criminal Courts Building last month.

The group, which handles cases that the public defender’s office cannot because of staff shortages or conflicts of interest, has received high marks for quality representation and cost savings during its two years of operation in the San Fernando Valley and other areas of Los Angeles County.

In a terse letter to Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Gilbert Garcetti last week, Stevens reminded his boss that “as you may recall, my career plans have included an intention to pursue other professional interests at the conclusion of the McMartin preliminary hearing,” and referred to the “richly rewarding” experiences he had in his seven years as a prosecutor.

In an equally terse letter Friday, Garcetti accepted the resignation, thanking Stevens for his “hard work and vigorous prosecutorial efforts” and wishing him success--”well not too much success”--in his new job as a defense attorney.

The resignation followed reports of dissension among members of the prosecution team and leaks to news media about the case, although Stevens had told reporters several months ago that he planned to ask to be taken off the McMartin case team when the preliminary hearing ended and that he hoped to leave the office altogether.

Denies He Was Pressured

“I was not pressured to leave,” Stevens said. “There is no connection at all between my leaving and published reports about dissension among the prosecutors.”

“I did not ask him to resign,” Garcetti said.

Stevens said Friday that he had asked last October--in a memo written to Roger Gunson, head deputy of the district attorney’s sexual crimes and child abuse division--to be taken off the case because of his doubts about the strength of the prosecution’s case.

He also said Friday that he had identified himself to his superiors as one unidentified source whose comments about the case were published in The Times last fall.

Stevens had said that he and his co-prosecutors, Deputy Dist. Attys. Lael Rubin and Christine Johnston, had disagreed about whether and how the case should be prosecuted.

He said then that he not only no longer believed that all seven defendants should be prosecuted but that he had come to believe that at least four defendants may be innocent.

Made Recommendation

In an oral presentation to top officials in December, Stevens recommended proceeding against two defendants. However, Stevens said in a 114-page summary and evaluation of the McMartin case that he had concluded that only nursery school teacher Raymond Buckey, the key defendant, should go to trial.

A county grand jury had indicted the founder of the Manhattan Beach nursery school and six teachers, and early last month, after an 18-month preliminary hearing, Municipal Judge Aviva K. Bobb ordered all seven to stand trial. But two weeks ago, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner dropped charges against five and announced that only Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, will go to trial in Superior Court.

Stevens said Friday that he believes that it was correct to wait until the conclusion of the preliminary hearing to drop charges against five of the defendants. “Ira Reiner did the right thing,” he said.