State Rejects Requests to Join McMartin Case

The state attorney general’s office has turned down requests from Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach officials to intervene in the shrunken McMartin Pre-school child molestation case but is still studying a similar request from parents of alleged McMartin victims.

In separate letters to the two cities, Chief Assistant Atty. Gen. Steve White and Supervising Deputy Atty. Gen. William R. Weisman, writing for Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, said outrage about the case in the two cities does not give the attorney general authority to enter the case.

“The fact that a case has created strong feelings within the community provides no basis for the intervention by the attorney general, since the district attorney is the one elected by the people of the county to make prosecutorial decisions, including those which may be controversial,” said the letter to Hermosa Beach officials, presented at Tuesday’s council meeting. A similar letter was sent earlier to Manhattan Beach officials.

A deputy attorney general, however, said Wednesday that the letters do not represent a final decision by Van de Kamp about involvement in the case. Supervising Deputy Atty. Gen. Mark Hart in Los Angeles said his office is reviewing concerns about local handling of the case that were included in a letter hand-delivered two weeks ago by parents of alleged molestation victims.

No Elaboration

He would not elaborate on the concerns nor say how long the review will take.

After an extraordinary 17-month preliminary hearing, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner in January dropped charges against five of the original seven defendants in the case, citing “incredibly weak” evidence against them.

The move was strongly opposed by city officials in the two South Bay cities and parents of the alleged victims. Last month, the city councils in the two cities passed resolutions asking Van de Kamp to bring to trial all seven of the original defendants. The resolutions said involvement by Van de Kamp is the “only way justice will be served and the cloud of doubt will be removed” from the case.

“The cloud is not just above the defendants but is above the entire community,” Hermosa Beach City Councilman John Cioffi said in requesting the resolution. Cioffi has two children who attended the preschool, which was located in Manhattan Beach.

Legal Discretion

In their letters, White and Weisman said intervention by the attorney general is appropriate when the district attorney has a demonstrated conflict of interest or has abused his legal discretion--conditions Reiner was not accused of by the cities.

Manhattan Beach Mayor Gil Archuletta said Wednesday that the attorney general could have become involved even without proof that Reiner had abused his discretion or had a conflict of interest.

“I don’t think they took the time to look into specific problems associated with the prosecution or lack of prosecution in this case,” Archuletta said, adding that he was disappointed.