Judge Won’t Cite 2 Who Dragged Off Attorney

A Van Nuys judge Friday declined to initiate contempt of court proceedings against two Los Angeles police officers who last week dragged a deputy public defender out of his courtroom on orders of another judge.

But the public defender’s office is planning a disqualification campaign aimed at forcing the reassignment or transfer of the judge who issued the order. And the aggrieved defender, saying he was still nursing a bruised leg, plans to file a civil suit against the officers.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Alan B. Haber made his ruling after Officers Nicholas Titiriga and Gregory Baltad publicly apologized to Haber for forcibly removing Deputy Public Defender Howard C. Waco from Haber’s courtroom on Nov. 6.

“I do sincerely apologize. I’m very sorry that all this has occurred, sir, and you can rest assured that this will never happen again,” Baltad said.

“The incident has caused me a lot of grief,” Titiriga said.

They made no apology to Waco, who sat quietly in the courtroom but later denounced the officers and the judge’s decision in the hallway.

Attorneys for the two officers told Haber that the Police Department is preparing a directive telling officers to let courthouse bailiffs handle any future non-emergency removal orders from judges.

Haber said he based his decision on the fact that the officers apologized immediately after the incident, seemed sincere and apparently did not intend to disrupt his court.

The incident occurred after Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Raymond T. Mireles asked the officers to bring Waco to his courtroom, jokingly adding “bring me a piece” or “body part” of Waco, according to witnesses.

As shocked courtroom personnel and spectators looked on, the two officers hauled Waco from Haber’s courtroom, dragged him backward down the hall and hurled him into Mireles’ courtroom, bruising Waco’s leg.

The officers interpreted Mireles’ order to mean that he wanted Waco brought to court, bodily if necessary, said Michael P. Stone, a Police Protective League lawyer who represented the officers with Assistant City Atty. Byron R. Boeckman. Stone and Boeckman told Haber that Baltad and Titiriga told Waco four times that Mireles wanted him to return and that Waco responded, “The hell with you, I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Head Van Nuys Deputy Public Defender William Weiss angrily challenged that version, calling it “biased and . . . wholly false.” Haber refused to allow Weiss to continue or Waco’s attorney, Hugh R. Manes, to speak, saying he was limiting the scope of the hearing.

Haber did not criticize Mireles, who was not present for the hearing.

But Weiss said after the hearing that on Monday his office will file affidavits requesting Mireles’ removal, on grounds of prejudice, from all cases in which public defenders take part.

Because the public defender’s office represents 90% of the defendants in Mireles’ court, Van Nuys Superior Court Presiding Judge Richard G. Kolostian said, Mireles will be transferred to another courthouse or reassigned to a civil or family court in Van Nuys.

But Weiss said that unless Mireles is removed from the criminal bench, public defenders county-wide will seek his disqualification from their cases.

Kolostian said Mireles could fight the action but it is unlikely he will.

Public Defender Wilbur F. Littlefield will complain to the Judicial Performance Council about Mireles’ action, Weiss said.

Mireles was unavailable for comment.

Waco, who said he is taking pain medication and seeing a doctor for leg bruises, criticized Haber’s decision not to cite the officers for contempt. “If they used Gestapo-like tactics in taking out an officer of the court, then what can the man on the street expect?” he asked.

Manes said he will file a federal civil rights action against the two officers and the Police Department on Waco’s behalf, seeking unspecified damages for excessive use of force and infliction of pain. Mireles probably will not be named in the suit because judges have legal immunity from such actions, Manes said.