Letter Urges State to Reopen Probe of D.A. in Plea Bargain

A senior deputy district attorney has asked state prosecutors to reopen an investigation into a plea bargain given to the grandson of one of Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti’s campaign contributors, according to documents obtained by The Times.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley’s request, however, has drawn charges of political motivation. Although the letter was written in July, it did not surface until this week, just days before the election. Cooley is an ardent backer of John Lynch, Garcetti’s challenger.

In his letter, Cooley says that potential witness Bessie Damon and others provided “accurate and reliable” information in May to state investigators inquiring into the propriety of Brian John McMorrow’s plea bargain. McMorrow received a 16-month prison term in a case that could have cost him life in prison.

Cooley said the information provided by Damon and others differs from Garcetti’s account of events--and includes an allegation that Garcetti told Westside businessman and campaign donor B.J. McMorrow in a phone call that he had “struck a strike” in the grandson’s case. A few days later, the elder McMorrow sent Garcetti a $1,000 campaign contribution.

Cooley said the attorney general’s office nonetheless closed the books in June on its investigation after deciding that no action was warranted.

Garcetti said this week through a spokesman that the allegations are politically motivated and without merit.

State prosecutors, meanwhile, said they are unlikely to reopen an investigation they had pronounced closed in June after reviewing information from Damon and others. The documents obtained by The Times, including Cooley’s letter and sworn statements filed by Damon and her husband, Daniel, are on file with the attorney general’s office. They provide the latest twist in a case that for months has been a politically charged issue within the district attorney’s office.

A two-time robber, the younger McMorrow was charged with attempted arson and could have gone to prison for life under the state’s three-strike law. A plea bargain last November produced a 16-month prison term.

B.J. McMorrow, contributed $13,000 to Garcetti’s 1992 campaign and another $1,000 this February.

Lynch said Thursday that it was “sickening” to hear of new allegations about “the person setting the moral and ethical tone of this office.”

Matt Middlebrook, Garcetti’s campaign manager, responded: “The attorney general’s office states that this matter is closed. This is a pathetic, sad, desperate political trick by the John Lynch campaign.”

Damon is the elder McMorrow’s longtime bookkeeper. But Middlebrook also observed that Damon’s husband, Daniel, is a deputy district attorney who supervises the Newhall office--and who reports directly to Cooley.

Bessie and Daniel Damon declined to comment. She wrote a sworn statement dated Oct. 12; his is dated Oct. 10 and indicates he waited to write because he kept hoping the attorney general’s office would conduct a “complete and comprehensive investigation.”

Cooley acknowledged that he supports Lynch but said his letter, written in July, was not politically motivated. And he said of the Damons: “They have nothing to gain except that the truth come out.”

Garcetti has repeatedly said he was not involved in deciding the outcome of the younger McMorrow’s case.

He also has said that there was one phone call from the elder McMorrow while the case was pending. He said he regularly gets such calls from contributors as well as from clergymen and others. A return call was placed to say he could do nothing.

In her sworn statement, Bessie Damon said there were four or five calls in all. She did not keep a log but said the elder McMorrow discussed some of the calls with her.

She said the elder McMorrow told her that during one call, Garcetti had urged him to tell the grandson’s lawyer to make a “995 motion.” That is legalese for a motion brought by the defense alleging insufficient evidence to hold a defendant to answer for a crime in Superior Court.

Another call occurred in late January or early February. Garcetti placed it, she said.

“According to Mac,” she said, referring to the elder McMorrow, “during this telephone call, Mr. Garcetti responded to Mac that he [Mr. Garcetti] ‘struck a strike’ in Brian’s case.”

On Feb. 12, at the elder McMorrow’s direction, she sent the $1,000 check, she said.

B.J. McMorrow told Daniel Damon at a luncheon this summer that he forgot to mention the “995” phone call to state investigators who interviewed him in May, Daniel Damon said in his statement.

Both Damons and the elder McMorrow attended that Aug. 19 lunch. B.J. McMorrow asserted that day that the “struck a strike” conversation “did not occur,” Daniel Damon said.

Cooley’s letter said that the attorney general’s investigators conducted less than two hours of interviews in May with Bessie Damon, the elder McMorrow and a secretary in McMorrow’s office. Cooley outlines 14 other steps that could have been taken but he says were not--including a review of phone records.