Counsel Named in Jail Probe : Grand jury: Van de Kamp appoints veteran defense attorney Douglas Dalton to direct stalled inquiry into use of informants.

A Los Angeles lawyer who spends most of his time defending alleged white collar criminals has been appointed special counsel to the grand jury to direct its jailhouse informant investigation.

The lawyer, Douglas Dalton, 60, replaces former California Supreme Court Justice Otto Kaus. Kaus signed a contract to direct the investigation for $250,000, but was dropped by the grand jury last October shortly after seeking an additional $250,000 to complete the work, arguing that it was more complicated than he had first thought.

Dalton signed a contract last week calling for him to complete the probe for no more than $250,000. He said in an interview on Tuesday that he intends to finish by June when the one-year term of the current grand jury expires.

Dalton was appointed by California Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp under a rarely used law that allows the attorney general to name a special counsel at the request of a county grand jury, at county expense. Dalton’s contract, like Kaus’, was negotiated with the county counsel’s office. It calls for Dalton to bill at the rate of $200 an hour. He normally charges $300 an hour.

Asked why he was taking the job, Dalton said: “There have been allegations . . . that the criminal justice system has in some instances gone awry. There’s an issue of accountability, and it’s a public service, I believe, to accept a position such as this.”

Asked to expand, he responded: “How often are you asked by a grand jury and by the attorney general of the state to accept a position such as this?”

Dalton, who recently completed a three-year term on the board of governors of the State Bar, said it is his intention “to investigate the entire scope of allegations of misconduct and what went wrong with the system.”

He noted that there have been allegations of perjury and of the giving of improper rewards or inducements to informants for testifying, and said he expects the grand jury to investigate any law enforcement agency involved.

But he declined to be more specific, citing grand jury secrecy requirements and his newness to the job.

Dalton also declined to say whether he expects the grand jury’s thrust to be securing indictments of law enforcement officials or making legislative recommendations on the use of informants. “I think it’s too early to rule out anything within the power of the grand jury,” he said.

The grand jury investigation began last year at the request of defense lawyer groups after an informant demonstrated for authorities in late 1988 that he could fabricate a convincing confession from a murder suspect he had never met. During the demonstration, the informant used a jail telephone and posed as a law enforcment officer to get inside information on the case.

Subsequent investigation by The Times showed that some informants have used a variety of techniques to fake confessions and have been used repeatedly to testify by the district attorney’s office, although they were known to be liars.

Kaus directed the investigation from May until October of last year when the grand jury dropped him for reasons that have not been made public.

Dalton said he understood he had been recommended to the grand jury by “some of the judges.”

Los Angeles County’s presiding Superior Court judge, Richard Byrne, said in an interview that Dalton’s name was among several he submitted to the grand jury as good candidates

“He did not contact me and I did not contact him,” Byrne said. “His name was mentioned to me--I can’t recall how or by whom--as one of a number of people who should be considered and who would be interested. . . . Doug Dalton has had an illustrious career in criminal defense work. He also has been active in Bar Assn. matters.”

Asked for his reaction to the appointment, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory Thompson said: “Our perspective is it’s a good selection--in fact an excellent selection. His reputation around here is just a straight shooter, tremendous respect, great credibility, and is someone who knows the system, and knows the players in the system, obviously, and enjoys outstanding access to information and to people. I think he will do a superb job.”

Dalton in the 1970s represented such celebrities as John Ehrlichman, the former adviser to President Richard M. Nixon who was charged in a spinoff of the Watergate scandal, and film director Roman Polanski, who fled the country after his conviction for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

More recently, he has specialized in defending business people charged with polluting the environment, violating antitrust laws or overcharging the government while working on defense contracts. In one of his most notable victories, he successfully represented one of four General Dynamics executives charged with defrauding the government of an estimated $3.2 million in developing the Sgt. York weapons system. The government conceded that the company and the executives had been wrongly charged.