Judge Backs Garcetti in Civil Service Case

A Los Angeles judge on Monday refused to bar Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti from attempting to prevent a veteran prosecutor from representing another deputy district attorney in a Civil Service Commission hearing.

At the same time, Superior Court Judge Alan G. Buckner scheduled a Sept. 26 hearing during which Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin Greber intends to press his case that he was unfairly punished by the district attorney’s office after criticizing Garcetti for providing pay bonuses to the prosecutors of O.J. Simpson.

Last year, Greber filed a Civil Service claim against the office over its decision to deny him a promotion and suspend him for allegedly attempting to intimidate police into not writing him two tickets for speeding.

Greber has denied that he sought to improperly influence the officers and has insisted that his August 1995 traffic stops by police only became an issue after he confronted Garcetti at a December 1995 seminar for prosecutors.

While an internal affairs investigation into Greber’s actions opened two weeks after his confrontation with Garcetti, the district attorney’s office has maintained that the probe of Greber began later than it should have because of an oversight, not retaliation.

The judge declared that at the next hearing, he will make a final determination on whether the district attorney is empowered to prevent another Garcetti critic, veteran Deputy Dist. Atty. Dinko Bozanich, from representing Greber. The office has maintained that Bozanich is legally barred, as a public prosecutor, from representing a client as a private attorney--a contention Bozanich challenges.