NEWPORT BEACH : Wayne Case Figure Seeks Court’s Help

O. Daniel Gal, the private investigator who admits he hired two henchman to assault John Wayne’s daughter and her boyfriend in Newport Beach two years ago, is asking the court to make prosecutors live up to a plea-bargain that would give him a light sentence.

Gal claims prosecutors agreed to negotiate a plea to a misdemeanor charge in exchange for his testimony against Dr. Thomas A. Gionis, who is the ex-husband of Aissa Wayne, the late actor’s daughter.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans, who is handling the Gionis case, called Gal’s claim untrue.

“There has been no plea agreement with Mr. Gal,” Evans said.

Gal, 39, has sought a hearing on the issue. It is scheduled for Friday but will probably be postponed to give prosecutors time to make a written response. Although motions to force prosecutors to uphold alleged plea agreements are common in Superior Court, they are rarely granted.

Gal’s attorney, Stuart L. Grant, has asked the court to “allow (Gal) to plead guilty to a misdemeanor offense and to sentence him to no more than eight months of time in a county or city jail.” That is the amount of time Gal has already served since he was able to make bail after his arrest.

Grant claims in papers filed in Superior Court that Gal did not have to be called as a witness for the plea agreement to be valid. He states that he only had to be willing to testify if called upon.

Among other things, the motion states that prosecutors promised Gal catered food in jail, a television set for his cell, 24-hour access to a telephone and expanded visitation privileges.

Gal was arrested in Switzerland several months after the Oct. 3, 1988, attack on Wayne and her boyfriend at the time, Roger W. Luby, at Luby’s Newport Beach estate. Gal claims that he did not fight extradition back to the United States because prosecutors had sought his cooperation against Gionis.

Gal has told police that it was Gionis who put out the order he wanted Aissa Wayne “taught a lesson” on the eve of a bitter custody dispute over their daughter, only 2 at the time.

So far, Evans has declined to use Gal as a witness.

The trial for Gionis, 47, ended in a mistrial last month when three of the 12 jurors held out for not guilty verdicts. Evans is not expected to use Gal at a second Gionis trial either.

Gal also did not testify for the prosecution at the trial of Jerrel Hintergardt, who is now serving eight years for his conviction in the Wayne-Luby assault.

Luby’s right Achilles’ tendon was cut with a knife and Wayne’s face was smashed into a concrete garage floor. Hintergardt has admitted that he led the attack.

Gionis is scheduled to return to court Jan. 24 so a new trial date can be set. Gal and the other gunman, Jeffrey K. Bouey, are awaiting trial on felony charges. Bouey, however, is expected to be allowed to plea bargain as a result of his testimony at both the Hintergardt and Gionis trials.

Evans has declined further comment on Gal’s claims. But it is widely known among attorneys involved in the case that Evans did not want Gal to testify against Gionis or Hintergardt because he believes Gal deserves some kind of state prison sentence for his role in the attack.