D.A. Appeals Court Ruling in Quadruple Slaying Case : Trials: The prosecutors seek to overturn a judge’s decision barring them from also pursuing drug charges against seven defendants in murder case.

The district attorney’s office filed an appeal Friday to overturn a Superior Court judge’s ruling that prosecutors could not pursue drug conspiracy charges against seven people in connection with their trial for a quadruple murder.

Prosecutors have also asked the state Court of Appeal to delay the start of the trial against the alleged members of the Bryant family--described by authorities as a major San Fernando Valley drug ring--which is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Tuesday is the last day that the trial can begin unless the defendants waive their right to a speedy trial or a delay is ordered by the appellate court.

On Monday, Judge J.D. Smith said that in an effort to speed up the complicated case against multiple defendants, he was limiting prosecutors trying the case to the crime at hand: the Aug. 28, 1988, slayings of a 2-year-old girl, her mother and two others outside a Lake View Terrace house allegedly used to count drug receipts.

Smith said the drug conspiracy charges could be pursued after the murder trial.

In her appeal, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jan Maurizi argued that Smith abused his discretion in ordering the charges to be split “without showing good cause and without showing that severance is in the interests of justice.”

Maurizi had argued unsuccessfully that it is essential to her case that she be allowed to explore in court the history of the Bryant family, which police say had controlled the distribution of cocaine in the northeast Valley since the early 1980s.

The conspiracy charges allege that the defendants were part of a sophisticated drug distribution network with a monthly income of $1 million.

The ring allegedly employed more than 200 people with work schedules and paid benefits, which made payoffs to police and some politicians.

Without the drug charges, Maurizi would be restricted in the amount and type of evidence she can introduce.

The defendants include Stanley Bryant, 34; Jon Settle, 31; Donald Smith, 33, and LeRoy Wheeler, 23.

Three other defendants also are awaiting trial on the murder charges.

The case stems from the slayings of Andre Louis Armstrong, 31; James Brown, 43; Loretha English, 23, and her 2-year-old daughter, Chemise.