Prosecutor’s Obligations

This letter is in response to the Jan. 7 article, “City Seeks Charges Against Homeowner,” in which two council members and residents of Morse Circle expressed their frustration regarding the Elena Zagustin matter. They suggested lack of aggressive investigation and prosecution and a failure to cooperate with the Morse Circle homeowners.

The record demonstrates a continuous aggressive prosecution strategy which has achieved compliance and deterrent penalties, including eight days of jail custody.

As both legal advisor and prosecutor of the City of Huntington Beach, I have a duty to take action fairly and with due process.

I also have an obligation to be sensitive to the rights of the Morse Circle residents as well as the civil rights of the accused and to protect the city and City Council from exposure to legal risks.

These risks include loss of the current criminal prosecution, charges of unethical conduct against the city and city attorney and a potential civil rights violation for using threats of criminal prosecution (a misuse of governmental authority) in aid of civil litigants’ private dispute.

There is a constitutionally mandated separation of prosecutorial and legislative powers in this nation, state, county and in Huntington Beach. The citizens expect and demand it. Prosecutors must be free to exercise their “prosecutorial discretion” without fear or favor.

This issue is an example of why the city attorney is an independently elected office of this city; to maintain the integrity of the system and not bend to political pressure.

GAIL HUTTON

City Attorney

Huntington Beach