Garcetti’s Revenge Seen in Transfer of Top Prosecutor

The district attorney’s election might have been fiercely fought between a prosecutor from Norwalk and a downtown incumbent, but the fallout seems to be landing most heavily at the Van Nuys courthouse.

On Friday, jittery prosecutors gossiped in the hallways and at holiday gatherings about the transfers of the two head deputy district attorneys who have shared a single roof since the Northridge earthquake. Both were supporters of Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti’s opponent, John Lynch. Many top prosecutors who try the Valley’s high-profile cases are apprehensive, awaiting news of more transfers expected in mid-January.

The reaction to the first wave of the post-election shake-up at the district attorney’s office depended largely on which floor one worked.

On the second floor, Van Nuys prosecutors were happy about the imminent return of a familiar face--respected Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter S. Berman, who two years ago won a highly publicized child murder case but has headed a downtown trials division since then.

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But on 5, where the San Fernando branch has established temporary quarters, hoisting a banner that proudly proclaims: “Still the law north of Roscoe,” mournful prosecutors lamented the loss of 49-year-old Head Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen L. Cooley.

Caught between the floors is Phillip H. Wynn, who has headed the Van Nuys branch for the past three years but now will fill Cooley’s slot.

“It’ll be the longest goodbye ever,” said the 55-year-old Wynn, a cautious, 27-year veteran of the agency. “I’m only moving up three floors.”

Filling Cooley’s shoes will not be easy. As the sign taped to his office door shows, the staff regards their boss as “Steve Cooley: The man, the myth, the legend.”

So on Friday, much of the gossip, anger and angst swirled around Cooley, whose transfer is widely viewed as a political exile prompted by his public criticism of Garcetti. “To the victor go the spoils,” observed one judge, who asked not to be named.

The news broke late Thursday, as several top prosecutors picked up their phones.

“I got this cold call,” Cooley said. “ ‘I’m now authorized to inform you you have been transferred to Welfare Fraud, effective Jan. 13.’ Revenge is best served cold, and it was cold.”

While Garcetti’s handlers deny it, Cooley says it is difficult to view a transfer from an office where he supervises 36 lawyers to one where he oversees four as anything but retaliation for his support of challenger John Lynch and his public criticism of Garcetti.

“Someone stood up. Someone fought the battle. Someone got screwed,” Cooley said. “I’d do it all over again.”

Breaking from their usual reticence, several judges who have worked with Cooley sang his praises and lamented the transfer of a head deputy whose integrity and common sense they had come to admire.

“He’s a wonderful prosecutor,” said Superior Court Judge Judith Meisels Ashmann. The transfer to the welfare fraud section, she added, “will not make the best use of him.”

“It was a very shortsighted thing to do,” said Superior Court Judge Charles Horan, a former prosecutor who was on the bench in the Antelope Valley when Cooley was a head deputy there. “You can make somebody’s life miserable in that office, but what do you gain?

“Here we go again,” Horan added. “It just doesn’t pay to succeed in that office. But if you fail and you fail in a way that doesn’t offend, then you’re OK. That’s a very bad message to send. It’s going to create some ill will.”

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Other judges agreed that Cooley’s transfer will be San Fernando’s loss. During his four years at the helm, they said, Cooley helped transform the branch from a troubled backwater with low morale and a big case backlog to a top-notch office where prosecutors enjoyed coming to work and kept the cases moving.

When Cooley took over, Ashmann said, “it was like the clouds were parting over the office.” During his tenure, she noted, the San Fernando branch cut its backlog 78% and dramatically increased its conviction rate. Cooley won kudos for his ability to read a case and judge its worth.

“One of the things Steve focused on was investigating the cases,” Ashmann said. “He put together good cases, and he wasn’t going to trial on bad cases.”

The office also won convictions in 30 out of 31 special-circumstance murder cases and boasted one of the highest overall conviction rates in the county.

“I think he’s a terrific administrator and a gentleman,” said Superior Court Judge Shari K. Silver. “We’re going to miss him terribly. The support from the judges is extremely impressive and it’s not because Mr. Cooley does what any of us want him to do. It’s because he knows how to evaluate a file and make a decision on a case. He exercises discretion, and he has instilled in his lawyers a confidence so they can make decisions.”

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Cooley’s public falling out with Garcetti came over the district attorney’s “three strikes” policies and a controversial case involving a third-strike case against the grandson of a Garcetti campaign contributor.

Cooley said he was offended that he was being asked to send people to prison for life for relatively petty crimes while a defendant with political connections seemed to get a break. So he actively campaigned for Lynch.

Garcetti won the election by 5,000 votes out of about 2.2 million cast. He recently announced he would not transfer Lynch, allowing him to remain head deputy in Norwalk, and he vowed as he was sworn in for his second term that there would be no retaliation.

“So much for Gil Garcetti’s promise of no retaliation,” Cooley said as his staff gathered around him. “This is payback for standing up for his opponent. It’s obvious to everybody in this office that it’s retaliation.”

The phone rang. Lynch was on the line, reacting to the rapidly spreading rumors.

“Hey John,” Cooley barked. “Well, I hope you appreciate all the support we’ve given you over the last year. Welfare fraud. Do you know what they do down there? I’m about to find out.”