Brown’s Attorneys Are Quitting Case

Millionaire David A. Brown’s attempts to have county prosecutors for his murder trial be replaced by ones from the attorney general’s office came to an abrupt halt Friday when Brown’s own attorneys quit his case.

Attorney Joel W. Baruch said in Superior Court in Santa Ana that he and his partner, Jack M. Earley, must declare a conflict of interest, but he did not say what the conflict is.

It is Baruch who has vehemently argued that county prosecutors are biased against Brown because of his involvement in a plot from the jail to have two members of the county staff killed. Now it will be up to Brown’s new attorneys to decide whether to pursue the request for new prosecutors.

Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey, who appeared surprised by the sudden turn of events, said after a closed-door hearing that he was satisfied that there was nothing more he could do to determine either the reasons for the conflict Baruch and Earley had declared or to act on it in any other way.

Brown, 36, of Anaheim is accused of masterminding a plot involving the fatal shooting of his first wife four years ago and letting his daughter, then 14, take sole responsibility for the crime. The daughter had served three years of a murder sentence when she recanted last year, leading to Brown’s arrest last August. Last January, Brown was accused of trying while he was in jail to hire someone to kill his second wife--a key witness against him--and also the prosecutor and chief investigator in the murder case involving his first wife.

Involvement Admitted

Brown has admitted his involvement in the jail plot but said other inmates had set him up.

Reports had been circulating about differences between Brown and Baruch, but Baruch said after a court hearing that the reasons he and Earley were leaving the case were unavoidable but unrelated to their relationship with their client.

“If he’d had any problems with us, he would have fired us,” Baruch said. “But that’s not what happened.”

Baruch told the court that the conflict had come up since the last court hearing, which was the Friday before. By law, lawyers in most conflict situations are not permitted to reveal their reasons.

Most defendants in murder cases cannot afford their own attorneys and must, therefore, be represented by court-appointed counsel. Brown, who in recent years had been very successful in a computer-related business, hired Baruch and Earley on his own.

Speculation on Replacement

Baruch said Brown will make his decision about hiring a new attorney soon.

Although Baruch said he did not know who the new attorney would be, Baruch was seen conferring with C. Thomas McDonald, who will soon complete his duties as co-counsel for convicted serial killer Randy Steven Kraft.

“Tom would certainly be a good choice for him,” was Baruch’s limited response to speculation about whether McDonald might represent Brown.