Ex-Grand Jury Leader Testifies About Capizzi

After protesting that his testifying would violate laws governing grand jury secrecy, the foreman of the panel that charged three elected officials with misconduct testified Tuesday that Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi once threatened to impanel a second grand jury.

Mario Lazo Jr., who headed the 1994-95 Orange County Grand Jury, said that the threat was raised when grand jurors sought to launch a civil investigation of the county’s bankruptcy before the district attorney was finished presenting to the grand jury the fruits of his criminal investigation.

Even though “we were not in a blame-searching mode” in wanting to launch the civil probe, Lazo testified, Capizzi feared that the grand jury might “taint” the criminal investigation if it began interviewing county officials.

Capizzi’s fears were groundless, Lazo said, because the grand jury was “not looking into the past” for its civil investigation, only for ways to prevent financial calamities in the future.

Lazo’s testimony was the latest development in a series of court hearings to determine whether Capizzi should be disqualified as the prosecutor in the civil cases against Supervisors Roger R. Stanton and William G. Steiner and Auditor-Controller Steve E. Lewis, who have been charged with willful misconduct in office.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John W. Ouderkirk, who was appointed to handle the cases after Orange County Presiding Judge Theodore E. Millard disqualified all county judges, allowed defense attorneys to call Lazo and other grand jurors after acknowledging that it was “uncommon” for grand jurors to testify.

Before Lazo took the stand, Richard Stavin, the attorney whom grand jurors tried to hire as an independent counsel last year, told Ouderkirk the grand jurors are unhappy about being called to testify in open court. They “believe they’ve been led down the garden path,” because two hearings they had with other judges last year were later made public.

The first hearing occurred before then-Presiding Judge James L. Smith last June, when the panel tried to hire Stavin. The second occurred before Judge David O. Carter, after the grand jury’s term had expired.

Stavin said the grand jurors would not have spoken out either time had they known their remarks would later be made public.

“They’re feeling betrayed and mistrustful of the system,” Stavin said. “They’re all very troubled and upset by it.”

Brent Romney, an assistant district attorney, said after Tuesday’s hearing he felt the defendants had not proven that Capizzi had any sort of conflict of interest.

“I haven’t heard anything yet,” he said.

The hearing continues at 10:30 a.m. today.