Prosecutors’ Removal Sought

Contending that the district attorney’s office has not fully disclosed evidence, the defense has asked that two prosecutors be removed from the case of a Camarillo mother charged in the shooting deaths of three of her young sons.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Donald D. Coleman has set a hearing on the motion for 8 a.m. on Aug. 20--one hour before the trial of Socorro “Cora” Caro is to begin.

In documents filed with the court, Assistant Public Defender Jean Farley contends that the prosecution team has “lost all semblance of objectivity and can no longer carry out their professional, ethical and legal duties.”

In response, prosecutors James Ellison and Cheryl Temple denied any improper actions.

The skirmish underscores the emotional intensity surrounding the case.

If convicted, Caro, 44, will either face execution or spend the rest of her life in prison. Charged with three counts of first-degree murder, she initially pleaded not guilty, but later amended her plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.

According to investigators, Dr. Xavier Caro discovered the bodies of his sons, aged 5, 8 and 11, in their beds the night of Nov. 22, 1999, apparently shot as they slept. His wife, who had a self-inflicted gunshot wound to her head, was unconscious, police said. A fourth son, a toddler, was unharmed.

In pretrial motions, the defense has vigorously disputed that account, suggesting that Xavier Caro may have committed the crimes and set his wife up as the killer.

The relationship of prosecutors with Xavier Caro sparked Farley’s unusual motion.

The attorneys have been “too closely allied with and protective of Dr. Caro, who in turn has a personal interest in the defendant’s prosecution and conviction,” Farley wrote.

Farley alleges that prosecutors instructed Xavier Caro not to submit to interviews with defense attorneys--a charge they denied. They also dismissed her contention that they had ignored her requests to tape-record their conversations with him.

“Law enforcement is not required to tape-record interviews,” Ellison wrote in response to the defense motion. “The fact that some interviews were summarized . . . rather than taped does not illustrate a conflict of interest.”

On July 28, the prosecutors met with Xavier Caro and a woman with whom he had had an affair, according to the court documents. Although the affair was known to both sides, additional details surfaced during the interview, which was not taped.

Farley also alleges that prosecutors have “repeatedly expressed hostility to me regarding my forthright statements attacking the credibility of Dr. Caro.”

But Ellison countered that their exchanges have been civil, if sometimes frosty.

“In an adversarial system, a certain amount of friction between opposing counsel is inevitable,” he wrote.

Both Farley and Ellison declined requests for interviews.