Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS. : POLITICS : Clerk Hopeful Sets Off Tald of Mistrail

Marshall F. Norris, a courtroom clerk for 20 years, is running for county clerk. He worked in the Superior Court where Gene Autry, owner of the California Angels, is suing over the City of Anaheim’s plans to convert part of the Anaheim Stadium parking lot into an office complex.

Norris wanted Autry’s endorsement for his campaign, and Autry was willing to give it. Norris checked with his judge and the attorneys on both sides of the parking-lot case, and they said it was OK with them.

Then Norris sent out fund-raiser invitations containing a photograph of him and Autry shaking hands, and a judicial furor erupted.

Alfred E. Augustini, defense lawyer for the heirs of former Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom, said the photograph made it look as if Autry were trying “to curry favor with the clerk.” He added: “I personally don’t think Mr. Autry was trying to do that.”

Michael D. Rubin, one of several defense attorneys representing the City of Anaheim, praised Norris for “a fine job in court.” But Rubin’s associate, Thomas S. Salinger, quoted “an old adage that if you can convince the clerk and the bailiffs in the courtroom . . . you’re ahead of the game.”

A Superior Court executive committee transferred Norris to another courtroom, citing “the appearance of impropriety.” The trial judge, Superior Court Judge Frank D. Domenichini, told attorneys that he thought the appearance of political interference “is very serious.”

The judge’s statement sent defense attorneys back to their clients to discuss whether to ask for a mistrial, which could be an expensive decision. The trial has been under way since last December, and “a mistrial would mean we’re back to square one,” said William Campbell, attorney for the Angels. So far, each party has spent “somewhere in the neighborhood of several million dollars,” he said.

Meanwhile, Norris insists that he has done nothing wrong. “I don’t make the decisions (in court),” he said. “And what I do and what I say doesn’t influence the judge. . . . I can’t even influence him to go to lunch with me.”