Steiner’s Lawyers Say D.A. Bullied Grand Jury

Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi deflected the Orange County Grand Jury’s bankruptcy investigation away from himself, and intimidated the panel into focusing its probe on the Board of Supervisors, attorneys for Supervisor William G. Steiner argued in a court document Thursday.

Steiner’s attorneys escalated their attack on Capizzi, hoping to persuade a judge to disqualify the district attorney’s office from prosecuting Steiner, Supervisor Roger R. Stanton and Auditor-Controller Steve E. Lewis on charges of “willful misconduct” for their roles in the county’s bankruptcy.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Maurice Evans said the accusations made by Steiner’s attorneys are unfounded. The district attorney has no conflicts of interest that would disqualify him from the case, Evans said.

“At no time did we intimidate the grand jury, nor did we endeavor to deflect any investigation into our office,” Evans said. “In the grand jury’s civil capacity, if they wanted to interview members of our staff they were welcome to. But to my knowledge, at no time was such a request made to our office.”

But Steiner’s attorneys, who will be in court today in an effort to get more information to support their recusal motion, said the district attorney manipulated the grand jury into investigating the auditor and two supervisors to cover up his office.

According the documents, Capizzi was privy to some of the same information as board members about the volatility of the former treasurer-tax collector’s investments, and should have conducted an investigation into the matter before the county declared bankruptcy.

The attorneys alleged that Capizzi improperly threatened to impanel a new grand jury to investigate possible criminal implications of the bankruptcy, when the jurors suggested the district attorney’s office could become a target of their civil investigation.

As a result of Capizzi’s threat, the attorneys contend, the panel backed down from its civil investigation into his office.

But one member of the grand jury, which disbanded when its term expired Dec. 31, said Thursday that the district attorney was not going to be a focus of the grand jury’s civil probe.

“We were not interested in the D.A.,” said the member, who asked not to be identified. “We really didn’t think the D.A. had a conflict.”

Transcripts of a meeting last June, however, show that some members of the panel were so concerned about the perception of a conflict that they attempted to replace the district attorney with an independent counsel to help them proceed with their civil probe.

That request, which was brought to the presiding court judge, was dropped after prosecutors suggested that a second grand jury would have to be formed to handle the criminal investigation.

In addition to the alleged intimidation tactics, Steiner’s attorneys contend that Capizzi has too many conflicts to prosecute the case. For example, Capizzi’s office was a victim of the county’s bankruptcy and had its budget cut by the board because of it.