Former Prosecutor’s Jail Term in Sex Case Called Too Lenient

An ex-deputy city attorney was handed a one-year jail term Friday for soliciting sexual favors from a teen-age defendant in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Prosecutors criticized the sentence as “too lenient,” but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judith C. Chirlin cited George Schwartz’s lack of a criminal record and the damage already inflicted on the former city attorney’s professional reputation as reasons for deciding against the recommended four-year maximum prison term.

Schwartz, 44, of West Hills, was also ordered to pay a $500 fine and was placed on five years’ probation for his June 4 conviction on one count of felony bribery.

Schwartz served 10 years with the city attorney’s office in Van Nuys before he was fired in August, 1988, because of the allegations. As he sat in court Friday alongside his 13-year-old son, Darren, Schwartz denied the charge and said his attorney had that morning filed an appeal on the conviction. Schwartz remained free on $20,000 bail pending a ruling on the appeal.

During the trial, prosecutors played an audiotape recorded secretly by Laura Kazemi, who was 18 when Schwartz prosecuted a misdemeanor check-forgery case against her in 1988.

On the 75-minute recording, Schwartz is heard telling Kazemi that if she acceded to his sexual requests, he could help her gain a more lenient sentence on charges she had already pleaded guilty to. Her case was later dismissed.

“The tapes were quite descriptive,” said the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Herb Lapin.

Harland Braun, Schwartz’s attorney, said his client “didn’t intend to go through with the proposal,” but was conducting his own investigation to get evidence to prove Kazemi was trying to bribe him.