Deputy Owes County $47,368 for Failed Suit

A retired judge has ordered a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who sued Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury for libel three years ago to pay $47,368 in attorneys’ fees for bringing the unsuccessful lawsuit.

The award falls short of the sum Bradbury’s attorney, Glen Reiser, was seeking, but reimburses Ventura County nearly the amount it spent trying to get the case dismissed. Overall, the county spent $120,000 on the lawsuit, Reiser said.

Gary Spencer sued Bradbury and four of his top aides in March 1994, accusing them of defamation, libel, slander and violation of his civil rights.

Spencer shot and killed Ventura County millionaire Donald P. Scott during a fruitless drug raid at his home near Malibu in 1992. In a written report, Bradbury exonerated the deputy because Scott was waving a gun during the raid.

But he criticized Spencer and accused him of lying to obtain a search warrant. Spencer sued, alleging that the report defamed him.

The lawsuit was dismissed by the Court of Appeal last fall, a decision recently upheld by the California Supreme Court.

Reiser subsequently filed a motion to recover some of the legal fees from the case. He asked retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge J. Kimball Walker to order Spencer to pay at least $58,745, but preferably more.