Attorney in Tay Case Is Judged as Formidable : Profile: Denise Gragg is winning praise for her performance as a deputy public defender. She’s involved in several high-visibility cases.

As far as criminal cases go, it was a loser. The accused was a poor, illegal immigrant. The accuser was a veteran police officer who testified he watched the defendant buy drugs.

“I remember thinking ‘Who am I kidding? The guy can barely speak English and the officer swears he did it,’ ” Orange County Deputy Public Defender Denise Gragg said of her first felony trial. Gragg--who believed her client innocent--was shocked by a not-guilty verdict.

“I know it sounds hokey but I was just standing there thinking, ‘This is what’s best about this system.’ These jurors took time out of their lives and left any perceptions about class and race at the door,” said Gragg, who was recently elected president of the Orange County Public Defender’s Assn.

While every defense attorney has a war story that crystallizes their faith in the legal system, acquittals are unusual in conservative Orange County, where escalating crime has many in the community--and therefore potential jurors--crying out for swift, harsh justice.

It is against this backdrop that Gragg finds herself representing Abraham Acosta, who at 16 is the youngest of five teens charged in the New Year’s Eve murder of honor-roll student Stuart A. Tay.

Tay, 17, of Orange was beaten before rubbing alcohol was forced down his throat and duct tape was used to cover his mouth. He was buried in a shallow grave. Police allege Acosta and four other teen-agers agreed to kill Tay rather than be double-crossed in a planned computer heist.

While Gragg is fighting a difficult battle in a case that has come to symbolize juvenile violence out of control, onlookers say she also is carving out a reputation for herself as one of the county’s more prominent female criminal defense attorneys.

Out of an estimated 9,000 attorneys in Orange County, there are only a handful of women in private criminal defense. The Orange County public defender’s office has 51 female deputies--about 40% of its staff, said Public Defender Ronald Y. Butler.

“Unfortunately, there are not many, but Denise is one of the best,” said private criminal defense attorney Jennifer L. Keller, who said she rarely encounters a thorny legal issue that she doesn’t run by Gragg.

Orange County Superior Court Judge David O. Carter said Gragg’s passion for her job, combined with her keen grasp of the law, makes her a formidable foe in the courtroom.

“It’s a rare combination to have someone who is comfortable with the law and also comfortable in front of a jury but Denise does both,” Carter said. “She handles some of the office’s most difficult cases and is always hard-working, always prepared.”

“You know that when you meet up with Denise in court, you’ve got to do your homework because she’s done hers,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. David LaBahn.

Gragg readily concedes the Tay case will be a difficult one. The key prosecution witness is one of the teens who has pleaded guilty to his role in the slaying and will testify at the trial, scheduled to begin early next year.

The defendants are being tried as adults and face life in prison if convicted.

Her wildest hope is to spare Acosta from all criminal responsibility. Her realistic goal is to save him from life in prison. If a sentence is necessary, Gragg wants Acosta housed in a facility for juveniles.

“The just thing to have happen to him in this case would be for him to not have any criminal responsibility here--it’s akin to an 8-year-old being held criminally responsible,” said Gragg, who contends her client is mentally deficient and has the IQ of a young child.

As the mother of two young sons, Gragg, 37, said she has developed a special bond with Acosta.

“I look at him and there is a resonance there that is not with all the others,” Gragg said.

Like most defense attorneys, Gragg has an unflagging belief that even people accused of the most heinous crimes deserve a dedicated defense. Sometimes, they also need magazines, additional money to buy toiletries at the jail or even a matching pair of socks and jacket to wear before a jury--items that Gragg and other attorneys willingly pay for out of their own pockets.

“When people hear what I do, lots of times they ask me how I can defend these people,” Gragg said, adding that people are not likely to change their negative feelings about defense attorneys until they or someone they know is accused of a crime.

“People have this perception that defense attorneys love to see convicted criminals on the street so they can rape and murder,” said Gragg, who said she also fears escalating crime. “But I just don’t think it’s too much to ask that the prosecution meet the (legal) standard for guilt.”

Gragg also is co-counsel for Mark Hilbun, a postal worker who police allege went berserk in Dana Point, killing two people and wounding several others during a shooting spree earlier this year. She also represents Frederick Stanley, a Fountain Valley man charged with killing his brother’s wife and her co-worker at a local embroidery shop.

Gragg’s intense feelings about the death penalty recently steered her away from handling appeals and motions and back to the courtroom to try cases. She is co-founder of the Orange County Chapter of Death Penalty Focus, an organization dedicated to abolishing the death penalty.

“I really believe that the system works, but the death penalty should not be part of that system,” Gragg said. “I figured the courtroom is where the battle over the death penalty is happening and that’s where I thought I could do the most good.”