Aissa Wayne’s Ex-Mate Can’t Get Fair Trial in County, Lawyer Says : Courts: Surgeon accused of arranging attack on John Wayne’s daughter seeks change of venue.

A surgeon accused of arranging a two-man attack on his ex-wife cannot possibly receive a fair trial in Orange County because the legend of the victim’s film star father, John Wayne, has won her widespread sympathy, his lawyer argued Friday.

Insisting that Dr. Thomas Gionis doesn’t stand a chance in “John Wayne country,” attorney Catherine A. Vincent asked Superior Court Judge Leonard H. McBride to move the the assault trial to another county. McBride said he would hear more arguments on the request next Friday.

Gionis, 35, of Pomona faces trial Oct. 31 on charges that he paid private detective O. Daniel Gal, 32, of Beverly Hills to assault Aissa Wayne and her financier boyfriend, Roger Luby. Gionis and Wayne were embroiled in a bitter custody dispute over their young daughter at the time. Gal, prosecutors allege, sent Jerrel Lee Hintergardt, 37, of Burbank and Jeffrey Bouey, 35, of Simi Valley to do the job. Gal and Bouey are cooperating with prosecutors. Hintergardt faces trial with Gionis.

The court hearing Friday involved a clash of public-opinion experts who sharply disagreed over the validity of a defense-commissioned survey showing that 40% of Orange County residents believe that Gionis was responsible for the attack. The prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Evans, opposed the motion.

Vincent also said Friday that she intends to seek a court order forcing the Newport Beach police to turn over information that allegedly indicates Luby had narcotics connections. She said she hopes to raise the possibility that the attack might have been a “drug-related hit” on Luby.

But Newport Beach Police Sgt. Richard Long, who is heading the investigation into the attack, said the inquiry has not uncovered any evidence of narcotics activity by Luby.

Arguing for a change of venue, Vincent contended in court papers that there is “only very weak circumstantial evidence that might possibly link” Gionis to the Oct. 3, 1988, attack at Luby’s gated, Newport Beach home.

But nonetheless, Vincent argued, Orange County residents are hopelessly biased against Gionis because the news media, fueled by prejudicial statements by the prosecutor and judges on the case, have gone “literally crazy” with the story.

“This has literally been a real-life soap opera and the interest of Orange County readers has intentionally been kept at a peak by the press with active and abusive dissemination of prejudicial evidence via the district attorney and the local judiciary,” Vincent charged in court papers.

Local people are also biased against Gionis, Vincent said, because they are surrounded with reminders of the “Wayne mystique.” Not only is the airport named after him, but it boasts a bronze statue of John Wayne, she said. The Sheriff’s Department paid tribute to Wayne by naming two surveillance helicopters Duke I and Duke II. Then there’s the bar at The Newporter Resort called Duke’s, the John Wayne Tennis Club, and harbor cruises that point out his former yacht and home.

To buttress her plea for a change of venue, Vincent introduced a telephone survey of 200 Orange County residents that was conducted by an Iowa research firm in June. Among its findings:

* 40% believe that Gionis is responsible for the attack. Of those people, 52% said the reason they think so is because the newspapers or other media have said that Gionis did it.

* 60% said they think Aissa Wayne has good reason to fear that Gionis would try to kill her.

* 50% think Gionis can get a fair trial in Orange County.

* 75% had heard of the assault. Of those people, 21% had read or heard that Gionis committed the crime or was suspected of having committed it.

* When asked what news event they associated with John Wayne, 44% immediately volunteered information about Aissa Wayne and the attack on her.

Mara Swanson, who helped design the survey for Starr & Associates of Des Moines, testified that the results show Gionis cannot receive a fair trial in Orange County.

To counter that claim, prosecutors put pollster Steven Teichner on the stand. Teichner, president of Teichner Associates Inc., said the survey is unreliable because it has a high margin of error--6.9% in either direction--and its sampling methods did not produce a true cross-section of the opinions of Orange County residents who might qualify as jurors in the case.