Judge Allows Part of Christopher Report as Evidence in Lawsuit : Trial: But jurist rejects attempt to force chairman of the panel to testify in police abuse case. City attorney’s office argued against use of the document.

Despite objections by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, a federal judge said Thursday he would allow parts of the Christopher Commission’s hard-hitting report on the Los Angeles Police Department to be entered into evidence during a police abuse trial.

U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian, however, rejected a bid by attorney Stephen Yagman to force commission Chairman Warren Christopher to testify in the civil rights case filed by the family of postal carrier William McCall, who died in 1988 after a scuffle with police officers.

Tevrizian disagreed with Yagman’s assertion that Christopher had become an “expert on brutality and racism in the LAPD.”

“He is not an expert in police brutality cases,” the judge said. “Mr. Christopher is an expert on affairs of state and releasing hostages”--a reference to Christopher’s role in securing the release of 52 American hostages from Iran in 1980.

Although Tevrizian did not specify what portions of the commission report he would allow admitted as evidence, he said they would likely center on whether the Los Angeles police brass condoned brutality and could thus be liable for McCall’s death.

“Initially,” Yagman said, “what we will seek to admit are the conclusions in the report that there is a custom of brutality on the part of LAPD officers and there is a custom of racism in the LAPD.”

The lawsuit at issue was brought by McCall’s 11-year-old daughter Tiffany, who is suing seven officers, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and the city for $10 million in damages. Her suit alleges that her father was killed by a carotid chokehold applied by the officers, along with three Taser shocks and a beating. Deputy City Atty. Philip Sugar has contended that McCall died from a PCP overdose.

In arguing to keep the commission report out of the trial, Sugar said the document’s findings--that racism and brutality permeate the department--are hearsay. He said the report is merely a compilation of opinions of individuals and that, while “improvements can be made” in the department, he disagreed with the report’s sweeping conclusions.

“Everyone agrees,” he said, “there are instances of force that shouldn’t have taken place. . . . But no one has said under oath that there is a policy of excessive force” within the department.

Yagman said he welcomed the prospect of the city attorney challenging the report’s conclusions because those arguments could result in even more of the report being brought before the jury.

“The city attorney,” he said, “is between a rock and hard place on this.”

Yagman said during Thursday’s hearing that he appreciated the judge’s concern that forcing Christopher to testify in numerous police brutality cases would be oppressive.

The judge had rejected a suggestion by Yagman that Christopher be questioned on videotape, which could then be used by the numerous lawyers seeking his testimony in upcoming police brutality cases. Yagman said that he alone has 25 to 35 such cases pending.

Tevrizian is the second federal judge who has ruled that Christopher cannot be compelled to testify in a police brutality case.

However, the other judge, J. Spencer Letts, said this month that he would welcome Christopher’s voluntary testimony as an expert witness. Christopher is still considering Letts’ request, according to Merrick J. Bobb, a commission lawyers.

In a related development, Yagman said another member of the Christopher Commission--UCLA Prof. Leo Estrada--had agreed to testify in the McCall case. But Bobb said Thursday that Estrada, through yet another attorney, has denied agreeing to testify. Estrada’s office said he was out of town and unreachable.

Yagman also criticized Mayor Tom Bradley for publicly praising the commission report while authorizing lawyers for the city to argue in court that the report should not be admitted as evidence in police brutality cases.

Mayoral spokesman Bill Chandler retorted: “Mr. Yagman obviously doesn’t understand that City Attorney James Hahn, not the mayor, makes such courtroom decisions. The Christopher Commission report has been a watershed document in the city’s history and the mayor is proud of what the commission accomplished.”