O.C. Offers $10 Million in Slaying : Settlement: Officials of bankrupt county negotiate deal with the family of a deputy accidentally shot by his partner. Authorities found no wrongdoing in the case.

In a case in which county grand jurors and federal prosecutors found no wrongdoing, a few top Orange County officials secretly made a deal to pay $10 million to the family of a sheriff’s deputy slain by a fellow officer during an impromptu training exercise.

County sources said the offer to survivors of Deputy Darryn Leroy Robins was strongly pushed by Sheriff Brad Gates, who wanted to compensate the family and avoid an embarrassing legal battle involving his department.

The proposed settlement was reached in March, the same month that bankrupt Orange County decided to lay off hundreds of county employees because of its dire financial situation.

The deal, which could become one of the largest settlements in county history, still needs final approval from the U. S. Bankruptcy Court and a committee of top county officials.

Terms of the settlement with Robins’ wife, his 3-year-old daughter and his mother were disclosed in documents recorded in Bankruptcy Court along with a flood of other last-minute claims that were filed before last Friday’s deadline.

The victim’s family and county officials were eager to settle the matter out of court. No lawsuit was filed, and the parties took their dispute to a private mediation firm in Orange to broker a settlement.

Tom Beckett, the county’s risk manager, said the settlement needs final approval by a claim settlement committee made up of Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier, acting County Counsel Laurence M. Watson and Auditor-Controller Steven Lewis.

Officer Brian P. Scanlan steadfastly maintained that he accidentally fired the shot that killed his 38-year-old partner on Dec. 25, 1993. Sheriff’s investigators concluded that the shooting was not intentional but a tragic accident.

Authorities said the two deputies were engaged in an unscheduled training exercise behind a Lake Forest movie theater--with Robins playing the part of a suspect and Scanlan the arresting officer--when the shooting occurred.

Scanlan, a 32-year-old field training deputy, told investigators that he shot Robins accidentally after Robins startled him by pulling a hidden handgun from behind the visor of his patrol car.

The Orange County district attorney’s office concluded that Scanlan had been “grossly negligent” for using a loaded pistol in a training exercise and said he should be charged with involuntary manslaughter. But prosecutors left the final decision to the local grand jury, which declined to indict Scanlan.

Critics questioned whether the case was handled properly and whether the shooting was the result of a “trigger-happy” officer. They also questioned whether the shooting had anything to do with the slain deputy being African American and the shooter being white.

The Justice Department looked into the case but found no violations of federal law.

Robins’ widow, Rosemary, filed a claim with the county seeking $15 million on behalf of herself and her daughter, Melissa. She alleged that the Sheriff’s Department knew that deputies were training with loaded weapons in violation of department policy.

Times staff writers Ken Ellingwood and Michael G. Wagner contributed to this report.