Arraignment Delayed for D. A., Investigator

A judge postponed an arraignment Tuesday for a prosecutor and district attorney’s investigator charged with felony eavesdropping so that a motion to dismiss the case can be heard.

Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch set a hearing for June 8 to determine the validity of the eavesdropping charge against Ventura County Deputy Dist. Atty. Stacy A. Ratner, a seven-year prosecutor, and Investigator Katherine Smith.

Ratner and Smith have been on paid administrative leave since May 20, when the state attorney general’s office charged them in what is believed to be the county’s first felony case against an active prosecutor and investigator. They each face up to three years in state prison if convicted.

The attorney general’s investigation began after a court bailiff accused Ratner and Smith of conspiring to eavesdrop on a Jan. 19 conversation between a burglary defendant and his defense attorney at the Hall of Justice.

Robert Lee Morrow, 30, was talking privately to Deputy Public Defender Mary Fielder in a holding cell adjacent to a fourth-floor courtroom when Ratner, 34, allegedly ordered Smith to listen to the conversation through a door that was ajar.

The charge was filed under a Penal Code section that prohibits law enforcement agencies from using electronic or mechanical devices to eavesdrop. Defense attorneys Tuesday asked Storch to consider dropping the charges because their clients are not accused of using such devices.

Los Angeles attorney Harland W. Braun replaced Ratner’s original lawyer on the case, James M. Farley of Ventura. Braun most recently helped get former Los Angeles Police Officer Theodore Briseno cleared on charges of beating motorist Rodney G. King.

Neither Ratner nor Smith appeared in court Tuesday. The attorney general’s office excused them because of the postponement.