Career Prosecutor Named Interim U.S. Attorney in L.A.

Career prosecutor John S. Gordon was named interim U.S. attorney Thursday, replacing Alejandro Mayorkas as the top federal law enforcement authority in Southern California.

Gordon, chief of the criminal division at the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, is known as an aggressive prosecutor who has been successful at going after high-ranking drug dealers, violent felons and white-collar criminals.

The paperwork finalizing Gordon’s appointment was signed by Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft in Washington late Thursday, just as the going-away party for Mayorkas was winding down at federal court downtown.

Today is Mayorkas’ last day on the job. He and almost all of the other 92 U.S. attorneys across the nation were replaced by the new Republican administration.

“I am deeply honored that the attorney general has chosen me to be the interim U.S. attorney,” said Gordon, 43. “I hope to build on the accomplishments of my predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, and look forward to leading an office full of dedicated and talented people as we await the president’s nomination.”

A committee to be established by the Republican Party will determine whom to recommend to the White House as the next U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. President Bush’s nominee requires Senate confirmation.

In the recent past, some interim U.S. attorneys for Southern California have stayed on the job for more than a year.

Gordon, with his 17 years as an assistant U.S. attorney, his reputation and his political status as a registered independent, may be a serious contender for the job, several legal experts said.

“He is a tough-minded, dedicated, hard-nosed, hard-charging” prosecutor, said Robert Bonner, the former U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, who hired Gordon in 1984. “I’ve been very proud of him. He has been an important member, leader and supervisor in the U.S. attorney’s office.”

Jan L. Handzlik, a former federal prosecutor turned criminal defense lawyer, said Gordon has “a strong sense of ethics and encourages dialogue with the defense bar.”

But Gordon’s critics suggest that he may be a bit too aggressive.

“He’s courteous, but he’d be a terrible choice for U.S. attorney from a defense point of view,” said defense lawyer Victor Sherman, who faced off frequently against Gordon during the eight years that Gordon headed the U.S. attorney’s narcotics section. Gordon left that post last April, when he was promoted to chief of the criminal division, where he oversees 165 prosecutors.

Sherman said Gordon’s years as a federal prosecutor have made him inflexible and unwilling to cut defendants a break no matter their personal situation.

“We would like someone who would be able to take the individual person into consideration instead of considering them just a number,” Sherman said.

From 1992 to 2000, Gordon also was regional coordinator of one of 13 national Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, which combine prosecutors with agents from a wide range of federal agencies, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service.

Another contender for the interim U.S. attorney job was Connie Woodhead, Mayorkas’ chief assistant. She oversees the civil branch of the office, which employs a third of its 240 prosecutors.

“People might be a little surprised” that Woodhead was not nominated by Ashcroft, said Loyola Law professor Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor.

But, she added, “they are fortunate to get someone of [Gordon’s] caliber to take over. He is much respected by the bench and the bar.”

James V. DeSarno Jr., the assistant FBI director in charge of the Los Angeles field office, said Gordon “understands federal law enforcement. He’s a consummate professional, and we have the highest regard for him and the work that he does.”

After graduating from the University of Texas in 1980, Gordon received a law degree from Stanford University and then spent a year as a clerk for U.S. District Judge Richard A. Gadbois Jr. in the Central District of California.

Soon after, he was hired as a federal prosecutor in the Los Angeles office, which oversees federal prosecutions in seven Southern California counties.

By 1988, Gordon had received a special commendation for outstanding service from the U.S. Department of Justice for his successful prosecution of Elrader Browning Jr. and 26 cohorts in a massive cocaine and heroin trafficking ring based in Los Angeles.

Gordon also put felon Morgan Cody in prison for life on narcotics charges, years after Cody was acquitted of conspiring to murder Gerald “Blackie” Sawyer, the Los Angeles Police Department’s first undercover drug officer killed in the line of duty.