April Hearing Set on Officials’ Prosecutors

It will take months to determine whether Orange County prosecutors should be disqualified from the bankruptcy-related misconduct cases against two of the county’s supervisors and its auditor.

A Los Angeles County judge handling the case set April 15 as the date to hear a bid by Supervisors Roger R. Stanton and William G. Steiner and Auditor-Controller Steve E. Lewis to remove the district attorney on grounds that prosecutors have a conflict of interest.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John W. Ouderkirk, named to oversee the misconduct case after all Orange County judges were disqualified, indicated it could be summertime before any trial gets underway.

Ouderkirk and lawyers for both sides spent three hours hashing out technical matters and setting a series of pretrial hearings.

One involves defense attorneys’ efforts to bar Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi and his staff from prosecuting civil misconduct accusations that could put the trio out of office.

Defense lawyers say the county bankruptcy forced cutbacks in Capizzi’s office and might have sliced into staffers’ deferred compensation packages and other benefits. Prosecutors deny any conflict of interest.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade said the pending motion leaves “a cloud” over prosecutors and might hamper their continuing investigation into the roots of the financial collapse.

A separate judge Friday postponed a hearing on a similar motion by indicted former county Assistant Treasurer Matthew Raabe, who faces felony charges related to the county’s collapse.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey set a Wednesday hearing to decide whether Raabe’s lawyers can call witnesses to show officials in the district attorney’s office were victims of the bankruptcy.

Raabe is charged with deceiving unsuspecting public agencies into sinking money in the pool run by former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron. Citron awaits sentencing on similar charges next month by another Los Angeles County judge assigned to his case.