Head of Sheriff’s Review Panel Named

Michael Gennaco, who prosecuted numerous high-profile federal civil rights cases, including that of white supremacist Buford O. Furrow Jr., will now oversee internal investigations of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Board of Supervisors announced Friday.

Gennaco, chief of the civil rights section of the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, was unanimously chosen by the supervisors to head the new Office of Independent Review for the department, a widely anticipated move toward police reform.

The board is expected to ratify Gennaco’s three-year contract in a closed session next week. He will be paid $200,000 annually.

Gennaco, 47, will oversee a staff of five attorneys who will help direct investigations, make disciplinary recommendations and report to the supervisors on significant cases.

The office was proposed last year by Sheriff Lee Baca to add credibility to the department’s internal investigations.

Baca’s proposal to have civilians review internal investigations drew national attention and differentiated him from Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks. Baca proposed the new office largely as a result of the LAPD’s Rampart corruption scandal, which sparked renewed calls for law enforcement agencies to better police themselves.

The Sheriff’s Department, which has more than 8,000 deputies, will be the largest law enforcement agency in the country with this type of independent review system.

Politicians, defense attorneys, prosecutors and others praised Gennaco as a solid choice who will bring a strong civil rights background to the position. He is viewed as a deliberative attorney with sound judgment.

Baca, who did not participate in the selection process, was unequivocal in his support for Gennaco.

“His qualifications are exactly what I was hoping for,” Baca said. “Here’s a person who understands civil rights. He understands the Constitution. He understands police misconduct and he understands criminal law.”

Gennaco, who has worked for the Department of Justice for 16 years, the past six in the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said he was enthusiastic about the challenge.

“I think it’s unique and I think it’s forward-thinking and there’s going to be room for a lot of creativity,” Gennaco said. “My goal is to make the investigations better, and I think that will clearly benefit the department and anyone who works with us, including the district attorney’s office.”

But Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has raised concerns over the new office, telling supervisors in a letter earlier this week that he worries that the new unit will interfere with his ability to investigate and prosecute cases.

Cooley’s office did not comment directly on Gennaco’s appointment, but issued a terse statement.

“While the district attorney’s office continues to work in good faith toward resolving our concerns with the sheriff, we have not yet reached an agreement,” said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

As a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, Gennaco was widely credited with expanding the number of investigations and prosecutions of hate crimes, police misconduct and other violations of constitutional rights.

He handled numerous high-profile cases, including the 1996 El Monte sweatshop case in which operators held more than 70 Thai women as virtual slaves. He prosecuted the first case using federal hate crime laws against threats made on the Internet. He also headed the probe of a special unit of the Los Angeles Police Department involved in a 1990 shooting at a Sunland McDonald’s.

More recently, Gennaco prosecuted Furrow, the white supremacist who fatally shot a Filipino American postal worker and left five people seriously wounded at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in 1999.

Gennaco was appointed to head the civil rights section in the Los Angeles U.S. attorney’s office during the controversial Tyisha Miller case in Riverside. He headed the probe of that Police Department after the woman was fatally shot by officers in 1998.

He was hired to come to Los Angeles in 1994 by then-U.S. Atty. Nora M. Manella specifically because of his background in civil rights law. He had been prosecuting civil rights cases in more than 20 states, particularly in the South.

Manella, now a U.S. district judge, said that it was unusual for the office to hire an attorney with a specific mandate, but that Gennaco’s expertise led her to make civil rights cases a top priority in the office.

He was the first federal prosecutor exclusively assigned to police misconduct and other civil rights cases.

He was successful, she said, not only in prosecuting cases but also in creating trust between community groups and the U.S. attorney’s office.

“Mike was excellent at establishing rapport with community groups and letting them know the U.S. attorney’s office and federal law enforcement was receptive to them,” Manella said.

David Lehrer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Gennaco has earned respect among the community.

“He’s just a genuinely thoughtful, concerned, committed guy who deeply cares about issues of discrimination, hate crimes and using the law as a constructive instrument,” Lehrer said.

Others agreed that Gennaco’s background in police investigations and misconduct allegations will serve him--and the Sheriff’s Department--well.

“I think he’s got great judgment and he’s got an appreciation for the complexities that arise in cases involving allegations of police misconduct and police abuse,” said Richard E. Drooyan, a former federal prosecutor now in private law practice. “I don’t think Mike approaches this from any particular bias one way or another.”

Gennaco’s style also earned high marks from some of his associates. Steve Zipperstein, a private attorney who worked with him in the U.S. attorney’s office, said Gennaco has a “quiet, professional, calm approach to his work.”

Some attorneys who tried cases against Gennaco, however, said they did not always agree with his strategies or decisions. They considered him too eager to prosecute cases, particularly those involving young people.

But civil rights defense attorney Steve Yagman said Gennaco is an exceptional choice to head the new office.

“This guy is one of the rare shining parts of the law enforcement establishment who ought to be cloned,” Yagman said. “He’s got a keen, keen gut sense of right and wrong and of morality. That’s what drives him. He won’t do the wrong thing, no matter what.”

Gennaco, who received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and a law degree from Stanford University, will recommend to the supervisors five attorneys who would work for him.

He was selected from 14 finalists out of a pool of 134 applicants. Supervisors interviewed three finalists a few weeks ago, and Gennaco was approved for the job in a closed session earlier this week. He signed a contract Friday.

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Michael Gennaco

* Age: 47, born Dec. 20, 1953

* Residence: Hermosa Beach

* Education: Bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College; law degree from Stanford University

* Career highlights: Chief of civil rights section of U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, 1999-present; civil rights prosecutor in Los Angeles office, 1994-1999; and Department of Justice since 1984; prosecuted civil rights cases in more than 20 states, particularly in the South.