Menendez Prosecutor Removed

Just days after going public with complaints that he was passed over for a promotion despite winning murder convictions in the Menendez case, Deputy Dist. Atty. David P. Conn was removed Friday as acting head of the major crimes division.

“It’s absolutely humiliating to me,” said Conn, an 18-year veteran of the prosecutor’s office. Conn had served as acting head deputy of the elite unit since Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti took office in January 1993.

He was told that he was being removed because the job is supposed to be held by a head deputy district attorney, a position Conn had sought but wasn’t given, representatives of the office said. Garcetti did not return phone calls for comment.

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Sandra L. Buttitta said she and Assistant Dist. Atty. R. Dan Murphy informed Conn that he would no longer lead major crimes but offered him the options of remaining in the unit as a trial lawyer or serving as acting head of another unspecified unit.

Buttitta added that Garcetti and other supervisors want to give Conn the chance to gain promotion to head deputy, but that he needs to manage a larger unit in the office to demonstrate his management skills.

“Running the major crimes division is not like running a larger operation,” Buttitta said. Keeping Conn as acting head of major crimes after he didn’t win a promotion would not be fair to Conn or the lawyers he supervised, she added.

On Monday, Conn went public with his complaints that he had been passed over for a promotion to head deputy, saying he believed that he had earned it after running the major crimes division for three years and winning a big trial for Garcetti at a crucial time.

Conn said Garcetti had assured him May 22 that his job was secure. Conn said he is weighing his options. “I told them I’d think about it and get back to them on Monday.”