Davis Gibe Riles Death Penalty Attorneys

More than 20 state death penalty prosecutors, already angry that contract talks with Gov. Pete Wilson are stalled, lashed out Wednesday at Lt. Gov. Gray Davis over his slap at them during Tuesday night’s debate with their boss, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren.

In one of the nastier exchanges in a gubernatorial debate dominated by argument over the death penalty, Davis turned on Lungren and suggested that there would be more executions if state prosecutors did better work.

“If your people had done a better job, we wouldn’t have 15-year delays for death penalty appeals,” Davis said.

Deputy attorneys general who handle local prosecutors’ appeals in all California death penalty cases reacted Wednesday by delivering a harsh letter to Davis, saying delays result from the tactics of defense lawyers and decisions of state and federal judges.

The letter accused Davis, a Democrat, of a “cheap shot,” and demanded that he “publicly apologize and set the record straight.”

The Davis camp scoffed at the criticism. Garry South, Davis’ campaign manager, described the letter as “much ado about nothing,” and said he believes that Lungren, a Republican, is behind it--a claim the deputies disputed.

“Clearly, this was a politically motivated attempt to smack back,” South said. “This is all rapid response and spin control. . . . We’ll apologize to them as soon as Dan Lungren apologizes to the 17 employees of the lieutenant governor he says have nothing to do.” South’s statement was a reference to a remark that Lungren made during Tuesday night’s debate.

“When you get into a pie-throwing contest,” South said, “you’re going to get pies thrown back. You can’t take everything these guys say literally.”

Rob Stutzman, Lungren’s spokesman, said that the attorney general was unaware of the letter and that “the career prosecutors acted on their own volition.”

The missive was signed by 21 state attorneys in the Sacramento office. Although the lawyers are Lungren’s deputies, they are Civil Service employees, not political appointees of the attorney general, and at least 15 of them have served in the office since before Lungren’s tenure began eight years ago.

“What this shows is a profound ignorance of these cases,” said Deputy Atty. Gen. J. Robert Jibson, who signed the letter. He has worked for the state Department of Justice since 1974 and has handled several death penalty cases, including one that ended in an execution two years ago.

Davis’ comment came toward the end of the debate, after he pointed out that the number of employees in his office has declined during his tenure. He quipped that he was a “better deal” for the taxpayers.

Lungren responded by acknowledging that the Department of Justice had grown during his eight years in office, and angrily challenged Davis to identify which drug enforcement agents or death penalty lawyers he would fire--prompting Davis’ retort.

The line was nearly drowned out by the moderator, who attempted to ease the bickering.

The deputies who signed the letter and spoke in separate interviews called Davis’ remark an insult and said it cast them as lazy, if not incompetent.

Although the letter came from the Sacramento office, the anger extended beyond the capital to other offices of the state attorney general.

“I only worked 500 hours of uncompensated overtime over the last year,” said Deputy Atty. Gen. Holly Wilkens of the San Diego office, who represented the prosecution in seeking the recent execution of Thomas Thompson. “It’s just ludicrous. We work night and day. . . . It’s the most offensive thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I’m grossly offended by it,” said Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. Dane Gillette of the San Francisco office, another state prosecutor who predates Lungren. Gillette coordinates death penalty appeals statewide. “We have been fighting for years to get these cases moving. . . . To be told we’re not doing enough is just beyond the pale.”

The comment carried an extra sting given that contract negotiations between Wilson and labor unions representing state workers, including death penalty attorneys, are at an impasse.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Carol Frederick Jorstad, a veteran of the Los Angeles office who is handling two death penalty cases, said the comment took a toll on office morale.

“Here we are working ever harder and falling further behind,” Jorstad said. “We have Wilson . . . refusing us raises, and one of the candidates speaking disrespectfully about us.”

The union that represents state attorneys has voted to remain neutral in the gubernatorial campaign. But some prosecutors, angry that they have not received a pay hike since 1995, had been considering supporting Davis, believing that he would be more open to their salary requests.