Doctor’s Assault Conviction Overturned : Court: Appellate ruling cites prosecutor’s misconduct and attorney’s improper testimony. Thomas Gionis was accused of planning attack on estranged wife, the daughter of John Wayne.

A state appeals court on Thursday threw out the conviction of Dr. Thomas Gionis, who was accused of orchestrating an attack on his estranged wife--the daughter of actor John Wayne--and her boyfriend during a bitter custody dispute in 1988.

Citing misconduct by a prosecutor and improper testimony by an attorney, the 4th District Court of Appeal overturned four felony convictions of assault and trespass that resulted in a five-year prison sentence for Gionis, a wealthy orthopedic surgeon and former husband of Aissa Wayne.

The justices, in a unanimous decision, said Superior Court Judge Theodore E. Millard improperly allowed the incriminating testimony of one of Gionis’ divorce attorneys in violation of the attorney-client privilege, which requires all discussions between lawyer and client to remain confidential.

On the stand, the lawyer said that about a year and a half before the attack, Gionis was angry about the custody fight for his daughter Anastasia, and had made some threats regarding Wayne.

“It is conceivable that the attorney’s testimony indeed made the difference” and that Gionis might not have been convicted without it, the justices said.

The court, however, directed its harshest comments toward former Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeoffrey L. Robinson, whose conduct as a prosecutor has been called into question before.

Justices criticized Robinson for his “vitriolic rebuttal and personal attacks” on Bruce Cutler, who gained national notoriety for his defense of accused mobster John Gotti in New York, during the prosecution’s final arguments to the jury.

Robinson quoted Charles Dickens, playwrights Jean Geraudoux and William Shakespeare and Danish proverbs to maintain that it is an attorney’s “duty to lie, conceal, distort, and slander everybody.”

Robinson’s words alone, the court ruled, were enough to warrant a reversal in the case, which was based, the justices concluded, on weak circumstantial evidence.

Reacting to the court’s criticism of his conduct, Robinson said: “I did the best job that I could do. I think the man got a fair trial. Maybe my faith in the jury system is unfounded, but I think these jurors made their decision on the evidence, not on the basis of the rhetoric of a couple of lawyers.”

William Kopeny, a Santa Ana defense attorney who handled Gionis’ appeal, said he was “very grateful the opinion was unanimous. These (justices) do not rush to reverse. I am very grateful they found the case weak enough to say the prosecution’s error was enough to be prejudicial.” Gionis, 40, whose medical practice was in Pomona, could not be reached for comment. Kopeny said he advised his client not to talk with the news media until the case is over.

Aissa Wayne called the ruling “appalling, incredibly appalling.”

Representatives of the Orange County district attorney’s office could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday to determine whether they will refile the case against Gionis, who remains free on $2-million bail.

Gionis was accused of hiring two henchmen to attack Wayne and her boyfriend, Roger Luby, outside his Newport Beach estate in October, 1988. Wayne’s limbs were bound, and she was thrown face-down onto a garage floor. The attackers pistol-whipped Luby and cut his Achilles tendon.

Gionis’ first trial in 1990 ended in a deadlocked jury after a district attorney investigator was caught in major contradictions on the witness stand about what Gionis’ chauffeur had told him about telephone calls Gionis had made shortly after the attack.

In an earlier murder case, the same appeals court scolded Robinson for his trial tactics and warned that in a close case his conduct could result in the reversal of a verdict.