Defense Lawyer Finds Himself the Defendant : Trial: Role is reversed for prominent criminal attorney William Yacobozzi, accused of sending an impostor to take a blood test in a paternity suit lodged against him.

Sitting at the defense table, prominent criminal lawyer William Yacobozzi looked like he does at the start of any of his other trials. He scribbled notes when the prosecuting attorney asked his questions. He stared intently at the prospective jurors as they gave their answers.

But when jury selection was completed Monday, Yacobozzi remained in his seat. These 12 men and women will decide his fate, not that of a client’s.

The veteran lawyer, a 15-year veteran and a leading Orange County homicide attorney from Newport Beach, is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, falsifying evidence and perjury. Prosecutors allege that Yacobozzi attempted to dodge a 1988 paternity suit against him by sending an impostor to take his required blood test.

If convicted, he could face up to four years in state prison and lose his license to practice law.

Yacobozzi, 50, who ran for Congress in a 1988 Republican primary, has denied the criminal charges, as well as the paternity complaint. He declined to discuss the case in a recent interview with The Times. Previously, Yacobozzi said the loss of his license would be “the greater penalty. . . . It’s how I make my living; it’s what I enjoy.”

Opening statements in the case are scheduled for this morning at Harbor Municipal Court here.

The paternity suit was filed three years ago by Coleen Walters, the daughter of one of Yacobozzi’s former clients, who claimed that Yacobozzi is the father of her 4-year-old son. The case was settled out of court last February, but both sides declined to give details of the settlement.

Yacobozzi, who is married and has a family, has repeatedly rebutted the woman’s claim and denied that they ever had a sexual relationship.

“The case was dismissed with prejudice; that’s all I’m allowed to say,” Yacobozzi remarked recently.

In June, 1988, during the civil suit, Yacobozzi was required to take a blood test from the Parentage Testing Center at Long Beach Memorial Hospital. That test found there was a strong likelihood that Yacobozzi was the child’s father.

Yacobozzi subsequently asked the court to allow him a second, more complex test that examines the deoxyribonucleic acid--DNA--instead of just the blood samples. The results of that test, taken in March, 1990, concluded that Yacobozzi could not have fathered the child.

But prosecutors allege that it was not Yacobozzi who took the DNA test. They charge that he sent a substitute to Long Beach Memorial and gave the man his driver’s license for proof of identity.

During the test, the subject’s photograph was taken and attached to the test results. Walters’ attorney, Jeri McKeand, sparked the criminal complaint when she saw the test results and complained that the attached photograph was not Yacobozzi, according to court records.

The five perjury counts stem from Yacobozzi’s statements to the court--oral and written--in which he claimed that he took the second test.

Investigators say they are searching for the alleged impostor--identified in court papers as “impostor John Doe”-- and have interviewed Yacobozzi’s relatives and friends in Chicago and Milwaukee. If an impostor is found, prosecutors say, the man could face conspiracy charges.

In court records, Yacobozzi contends that Walters and McKeand may have substituted a fake picture and clipped it with the file to set him up. He also charges that the district attorney’s office may have targeted him in a “sting” operation because of his success as a defense attorney against county prosecutors.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade, who is prosecuting the case, would not comment on the accusation or on the case against Yacobozzi, other than to say that he is trying the “defendant just as I would any other person.”