Family of Inmate Slain in Jail Accuses D.A. of ‘Malicious Prosecution’

A claim that accused Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury of “malicious prosecution” of an inmate allegedly beaten to death by his cellmate will be filed on behalf of the dead man’s family, an attorney said Friday.

Thomas Pollizzi, 57, died Sept. 1 while serving a 300-day sentence for stalking. The family’s attorney, J. Stephen Deffner of San Diego, alleges that Pollizzi was wrongly prosecuted and convicted because of Bradbury’s personal interest in the case.

“We believe this was done as a personal favor” to Bradbury’s attorney, Deffner said.

At the time of his arrest in Riverside County, Pollizzi was the estranged boyfriend of Bradbury’s personal attorney and friend, Glen Reiser, who had accused Pollizzi of beating Reiser’s mother on several occasions in Palm Springs. No charges, however, were ever filed in Riverside County.

Deffner said if Pollizzi committed any crime at all, it should have been prosecuted in Riverside County.

Reiser could not be reached for comment Friday. But in an earlier interview, Reiser said Pollizzi also began harassing him at the attorney’s Oxnard law office and Camarillo home. Based on that complaint, Ventura County officials arrested Pollizzi in May.

Bradbury was unavailable for comment Friday and his top deputy, Kevin McGee, declined to comment.

Pollizzi pleaded no contest to a single charge of stalking in August. One month later, investigators said an unstable cellmate beat Pollizzi to death because Pollizzi kept flushing the toilet.

Alan Schaffer, 27, was charged in the slaying. But Schaffer was declared insane and unable to stand trial in December and transferred to a mental hospital.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department is also named in the claim.

“Thomas Lewis Pollizzi was put into a cell with an individual with a known history of mental problems,” the claim states. “The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department knew of this individual’s mental problems and failed to protect Mr. Pollizzi against the violence of this individual.”

The claim is expected to be filed Monday. The filing of a claim is the first step toward filing a lawsuit, Deffner said. If the district attorney and sheriff reject the claim, the family can sue Ventura County in Superior Court for civil damages.