Lawyer Insists That She Was Fondled by Judge : Courts: Defense attorney tries to show woman’s allegations were made in a desire to collect monetary damages.

Despite intense cross-examination Friday, an attorney stood firmly by her allegations that a former workers’ compensation judge sexually attacked her in his office.

Defense attorney Philip David Israels tried to turn to his advantage a secret tape recording on which his client, former Judge Stanley Samuel Feinstein, 62, is heard apologizing to the plaintiff. He claimed the woman is pressing criminal charges only to help her sue later for monetary damages.

Feinstein of Chatsworth is on trial for sexual battery and false imprisonment. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

In court Friday, Israels claimed that the tape shows the lawyer whispering, “I’m going to sue the . . . bastard.” The woman testified that she said, “He’s a sick . . . bastard.”

Earlier, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Seki played the tape for the seven-woman, five-man Van Nuys Superior Court jury and argued that Feinstein all but admitted committing the March 28, 1994, attack in his apology.

On the tape--which police asked the woman to record secretly--Feinstein is heard saying, “I apologize profusely. . . . I made a mistake. . . . I promise that will never happen again.”

Feinstein then promises the woman that she will have “no problem” in the future.

Feinstein never specifically mentioned attacking her, but is heard saying “If I did anything to offend you, I apologize.”

During opening remarks Thursday, Seki described the attorney as being “traumatized probably for the rest of her career” by the attack in Feinstein’s office in the State Office Building in Van Nuys.

But Israels called his client the “real victim” in this case.

Under questioning Thursday by Seki, the 41-year-old attorney testified that she stopped by Feinstein’s office to get the topic and date of an upcoming lecture. As she was leaving, she said, the judge asked her to wait and close the door.

“I turned around and he slammed me against the wall with his body,” the woman said, her voice trembling and fighting back tears. “I felt paralyzed.”

She said Feinstein then reached under her blouse and and skirt and fondled her.

“He was trying to kiss me,” she testified. “He was trying to push his tongue in my mouth.”

She said he then backed off her slightly, and she was able to leave his office.

Later that day she reported the incident to police, who asked her to meet with Feinstein the next day and secretly record their conversation.

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The trial is expected to last five days. The woman’s name is being withheld in accordance with The Times’ policy dealing with allegations of sexual assault.

Whether Feinstein would face felony or misdemeanor charges was in question until only recently. Felony charges were originally filed, but they were reduced by a judge to misdemeanors at a preliminary hearing in June. Prosecutors appealed the decision, however, and the 2nd District Court of Appeal reinstated the more serious charges in February.

Feinstein was fired shortly by state officials after the woman’s charge was made for refusing to cooperate with an internal investigation.