Judge Refuses to Take ‘Bryant’ Case From D.A. : Courts: The defense sought the state attorney general because of reports the alleged crime family had infiltrated the prosecutor’s office.

A Superior Court judge refused Thursday to dismiss the district attorney’s office from prosecuting seven defendants in the “Bryant Family” drug and murder case, saying he saw no evidence that the alleged crime family had “infiltrated” the prosecutors’ office.

Defense lawyers had asked the state attorney general’s office to take over the case from the district attorney’s office, contending that any such infiltration would present prosecutors with a conflict of interest.

Their request was based on a charge made by county prosecutors in documents submitted to the judge, claiming their office and the Los Angeles Police Department had been compromised by alleged Bryant crime syndicate members.

If that were true, defense lawyers argued, county prosecutors should not handle the case because their colleagues could be co-conspirators with the defendants, who are charged with four slayings in Lake View Terrace in 1988.

After a three-hour hearing, however, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge J.D. Smith denied the defense motion.

He said he had held five closed sessions with prosecutors, and that a complete investigation turned up no evidence to support allegations of infiltration.

Prosecutors had said the Bryant family crime network placed informants in law enforcement agencies to collect confidential information, escape prosecution and retaliate against witnesses.

But the prosecution later backed away from any plans to use such allegations in the trial.

“This case, at first blush, gives an impression” of such an infiltration, Smith said.

“But the court tried to find evidence of infiltration . . . and found nothing to substantiate that.”

Smith scheduled jury selection to begin Jan. 19.

The ruling was a minor victory for prosecutors in the complex, 4-year-old case, and followed weeks of unwanted publicity in which former Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner and his aides differed over whether they were even conducting an internal investigation into such an infiltration.

“We’re very pleased,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Brent Ferreira said. “We thought all along that we should try the case.”

Carl Jones, a lawyer for alleged ringleader Stanley Bryant, 34, said he was disappointed.

Jones said the judge’s ruling supported his contention that prosecutors made a baseless allegation that there was an infiltration solely to taint prospective jurors in the case by leading them to think the worst about his client.

A police officer recently testified at a pretrial hearing on the issue that the Bryant group had “connections” to law enforcement agencies.

But prosecutors said five current or former employees who have been investigated for possibly being linked to the Bryant family had no connection with the current case.

A deputy district attorney and a clerk remain under investigation.

Ferreira refused to comment Thursday on the status of that probe.

Bryant and six other alleged members of the crime syndicate had been accused of killing two rival drug dealers and two witnesses at a Lake View Terrace house that police said was used to count drug proceeds.

Charges against the two defendants--Tannis Bryant Curry, 30, and Nash Newbill, 56--were dropped Thursday by another judge.

The remaining five are also accused of operating a ring that employed 200 people and controlled the cocaine trade throughout the northeast San Fernando Valley for 10 years.

On Thursday, in a last-minute attempt to wrest the case from county prosecutors, Jones and other defense lawyers also contended that deputy district attorneys had illegally withheld crucial evidence gathered against their clients after telling the judge and defense team that they had turned over all relevant documents.

That demonstrated, Jones said, that county prosecutors were so untrustworthy that the state should step in, in the interests of justice.

“This case stinks, judge,” Jones said. “They should not be on this case. . . . I’ve been lied to over and over again, in front of you.”

Even though Ferreira and other prosecutors denied withholding information, Smith said he was concerned about the charge and ordered them to make every effort to share all available evidence in the future.

Smith also ruled that no information from the closed hearings into the alleged infiltration would be disclosed to defense attorneys.

“I found nothing, not a word, that would help exonerate any of the defendants,” he said.

Smith’s ruling set the stage for jury selection to begin for the trial, which has been split into two groups of defendants.

In addition to Bryant, LeRoy Wheeler, 23; Jon Settle, 32; Donald Smith, 33, and Antonio Johnson, 33, face either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of murder and conspiracy.