Sergeant to Give Up Notes on Drug Raid at 39th and Dalton : Police: Prosecutors had demanded to see the records, compiled during an investigation of four officers accused of vandalizing apartments.

A Los Angeles police sergeant who worked on a case involving four other officers accused of vandalizing apartments in South Los Angeles agreed Monday to bow to prosecutors’ demands to see records that he had compiled.

After a closed meeting with prosecutors, an attorney for Sgt. Robert Kavanaugh said he would turn over by Nov. 26 all records from Kavanaugh’s investigation into a 1988 drug raid in which the officers allegedly destroyed property at an apartment complex located at Dalton Avenue and 39th Street.

Prosecutors had subpoenaed the records, saying it was improper for a police officer to assist in the criminal defense of the accused officers.

Kavanaugh’s attorney, Cecil Marr, said he doubted that the records would add any information that would benefit the prosecution’s case.

In a related development, Municipal Court Judge Larry P. Fidler postponed for five months the vandalism trial to allow new defense attorney Barry Levin, who is representing Capt. Thomas Elfmont, time to prepare for the case. Elfmont hired Levin after the judge removed from the case the police captain’s first attorney, James Wilson, because of conflict of interest.

Along with Elfmont, Officers Charles Wilson and Ted Parrick and Sgt. Charles (Ted) Spicer are charged with vandalism and conspiracy to commit vandalism as a result of an Aug. 1, 1988, raid at the apartments, which police said turned up one-quarter of a gram of cocaine.

Their trial is now scheduled for March 18.

While the proceedings have moved slowly, the wrangling over information gleaned during Kavanaugh’s investigation has made for a fast-paced and curious sideshow.

The fight for the records began after Kavanaugh told the Los Angeles Times earlier this month that he had spent weeks investigating the raid in an effort to clear the four officers. He said he worked with department approval and on city time, an assertion that was disputed by police spokesmen.

Kavanaugh’s statements helped stoke a verbal war between Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and Mayor Tom Bradley, who has called for an audit of the department. The officer’s remarks have also furthered speculation about police misconduct during the raid.

Kavanaugh had been ordered to testify Monday, but Fidler decided to use the day to determine whether the information from the investigation should be turned over to prosecutors.

During the proceedings, Marr tried to recast Kavanaugh’s role in the case. He said the officer worked not as a defense investigator but only as a Police Department defense representative for officers facing internal administrative proceedings.

“And (Kavanaugh) was a defense representative for other police officers, not those in this case,” said Marr. “I would be very surprised if Kavanaugh has anything that the prosecutors don’t already have.”