Sergeant to Testify on Dalton Case Work : Trial: A judge orders Robert Kavanaugh to explain his on-duty investigations on behalf of fellow officers accused of criminal vandalism.

A Municipal Court judge on Thursday ordered a Los Angeles police sergeant to testify later this month about his on-duty investigative work on behalf of four fellow officers awaiting trial on criminal vandalism charges in the “39th and Dalton” raid.

The order by Judge Larry P. Fidler marks the first time the furor over Sgt. Robert Kavanaugh’s conduct, which he has said was sanctioned by his police supervisors at Parker Center, has spilled over into the courtroom.

Thursday’s hearing was attended by nearly a dozen attorneys representing both sides of the case, as well as the Police Department and Kavanaugh. Some of the defense attorneys sought a six-month delay in the trial, while others requested more time to respond to a prosecution subpoena asking for copies of all of Kavanaugh’s investigative reports and files.

At one point, a lawyer waved a stack of newspaper articles outlining Kavanaugh’s work for the defense and asked that a gag order be imposed that would direct everyone involved not to discuss the case.

“One of the reasons the court may want to delay this trial for six months is to let this stuff die down,” said attorney Barry Levin, who is asking to be substituted to defend one of the accused officers.

Judge Fidler denied Levin’s request for the gag order but has not ruled on whether the lawyer can take the case.

But the judge scheduled Oct. 29, the date Kavanaugh was ordered to testify, for rulings on whether any of Kavanaugh’s materials should be turned over to the prosecution and whether the trial should be postponed.

Kavanaugh, a 30-year police veteran who plans to retire soon, told The Times in a recent interview that he spent at least six weeks this summer working full time in the role of a criminal defense investigator to help the four officers beat the vandalism charges.

At the request of Mayor Tom Bradley, the Police Commission is investigating Kavanaugh’s work for the defense, and the situation also has triggered a war of words between Bradley and Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Scott Yochelson, whose office has subpoenaed the Kavanaugh records, wants the sergeant to testify about everything he did to assist the four criminal defense attorneys.

Kavanaugh did not attend the Thursday hearing and has declined to comment further on the matter. Darryl Mounger, one of two attorneys representing Kavanaugh, said afterward that he was not sure exactly what Kavanaugh would say when he takes the stand.

Although Kavanaugh has stated that his police superiors were fully aware of his work on behalf of the defense, police supervisors maintain that Kavanaugh was working only in his capacity as a police defense representative.

In that role, they said, he was gathering information and preparing to defend officers who face administrative hearings--and not a criminal trial.

Kavanaugh, however, in his interview with The Times, said Police Department supervisors had approved of his criminal defense work, which included working in the law office of one of the defense attorneys and turning over whatever information he gathered on the case to the defense team.

The case has its roots in an August, 1988, police drug raid on a series of apartments near 39th Street and Dalton Avenue in South-Central Los Angeles. According to witnesses, the officers trashed the apartments and destroyed property inside the units.

In another legal maneuver Thursday, prosecutors filed a motion contending that one of the key defendants, Capt. Thomas Elfmont, “has devised a scheme” to postpone the trial for six months by asking that Levin be substituted as his lawyer.

The prosecutors included a statement from a group of Los Angeles police officers. They said Elfmont approached them after a court hearing two weeks ago and implied that Christopher Darden, the lead deputy district attorney on the case, wants a victory so he can become a judge.

“This is going to be the district attorney’s worst nightmare,” Elfmont was quoted as saying in a courtroom hallway on Sept. 29. “He will never be a judge. He will be old and gray before this case ever gets to trial.”

“It is clear,” prosecutors said in their legal papers, “Mr. Elfmont’s motive in retaining Mr. Levin is to delay this proceeding indefinitely. . . . He hopes the (prosecutors) and the victims will lose interest in the case and seek to dismiss the charges against him.”

In an interview after Thursday’s hearing, Elfmont acknowledged that he made the hallway comments. But he said he was only speaking out of frustration.

“It’s a political prosecution,” Elfmont said. “And it will be the worst nightmare for the district attorney’s office because they’re going to lose this case.”

Levin added that it is not unreasonable to expect that he would need six months to prepare for trial. He said the case has already generated more than 200 videotapes, 1,600 pages of witness statements, 100 sworn depositions, almost 1,100 photographs and a 668-page summary by the police Internal Affairs Division.

“This case,” he said, “has been going on for months.”