In Orange County, D.A.’s office and Sheriff’s Department keep clashing

For decades, it was unquestioned wisdom in Orange County that bringing a criminal case against a law officer was a laughably unlikely possibility. Under Brad Gates, the self-styled “cowboy” who ran the Sheriff’s Department for nearly a quarter-century until the late 1990s and enjoyed the endorsement of John Wayne himself, critics long decried what they saw as an excessively cozy relationship between prosecutors and deputies.

What an inversion of the natural order it seemed, then, when district attorney spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder publicly blamed a fizzled criminal case on a law enforcement “code of silence.” John Barnett, a prominent defense attorney, said such a remark from the district attorney’s office would have been inconceivable in the 1970s, when he started practicing law in the county.

“It wasn’t conceivable until yesterday,” he said, referring to Schroeder’s remark Friday.

The dispute stems from the failed prosecution of Christopher Hibbs, an Orange County sheriff’s deputy who faced trial this month on assault charges for firing a Taser at a man who was handcuffed in the back of a squad car. Jurors voted 11 to 1 to acquit, prompting a mistrial. The district attorney’s office decided not to re-file the charges, with Schroeder saying there were “inconsistencies” in the testimony of Hibbs’ fellow deputies that doomed the case.

It was the latest in a series of high-profile dust-ups between the Sheriff’s Department and the office of Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas. Last year, a grand jury impaneled by Rackauckas found rampant abuse at Theo Lacy Jail, a high-security lockup run by the Sheriff’s Department, and he publicly blasted the department for what he called its shoddy investigation into child molestation allegations against a deputy, who committed suicide before he could be arrested. The agencies also have sparred over control of the county’s DNA database.

Some observers say the latest feud may reflect a county that is evolving beyond its reputation as a bastion for law-and-order conservatism in which a politically mighty Sheriff’s Department was deemed untouchable. For years “you just didn’t challenge law enforcement in this county,” said George Wright, who chairs the criminal justice department at Santa Ana College.

But the clashes have been coming with greater frequency and increasing venom.

Wayne Quint Jr., president of the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, which represents 1,850 deputies and district attorney investigators, said he has received repeated calls from members outraged by Schroeder’s remark. He called her comment “an affront to law enforcement” and demanded her resignation.

“She’s wrong on this and she needs to get up and say she’s wrong. There’s no code of silence,” Quint said. “I’ve been in this business 27 years. I’ve never seen the D.A.’s office make an outrageous statement like this. Never. I’ve got a guy who’s been in the business 37 years -- he’s never seen anything like this.”

Schroeder maintains that with a few exceptions, “the relationship between the sheriff’s office and our office -- past, present and future -- is great.” She said she considers most deputies honest and ethical.

But Quint interpreted her remark as an attack on the agency’s honesty. He said he worried that it might taint jury pools against deputies.

“You call any cop, not only my deputies, and you read that quote, and they’re going to have the same reaction I’m having,” Quint said.

Brent Romney, a former Orange County prosecutor, said that if the district attorney’s office was serious about law enforcement misconduct it would pursue perjury charges against the deputies whose integrity Schroeder questioned. Otherwise, he said, people would draw the “obvious inference” that the prosecutor’s office is just trying to deflect blame for pursuing a weak case.

“Any time the district attorney’s office takes a position that several deputies in a law enforcement agency are trying to undermine justice, that’s an extremely serious allegation,” Romney said. “The proof is in the pudding. Is there going to be an investigation? Or is it just public relations spin?”

Asked about possible perjury charges, Schroeder said: “We’re in the process of pulling all the transcripts and reviewing the entire matter.” Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said she is also reviewing the deputies’ conduct at trial.

The district attorney’s critique of the deputies opens the door for defense attorneys to challenge criminal convictions based on the deputies’ testimony.

“In that sense, the defense bar will be lauding the statements of Ms. Schroeder,” Barnett said.

Shirley Grindle, a political watchdog who wrote the county’s campaign finance law, said the critique of the sheriff’s deputies was really an attack orchestrated by “Republican thugs” on Hutchens, who was named the county’s sheriff in June and doesn’t have the close ties that past sheriffs have had with county Republicans. Her predecessor, Michael Carona, resigned last year and since has been convicted of witness tampering.

Grindle said Republican power players -- such as Schroeder’s husband, Mike Schroeder, who at one time acted as consultant to both Rackauckas and Carona -- were angry at Hutchens’ decision to review the validity of the county’s 1,000 active concealed-weapons permits. Carona issued some permits to donors and political friends, including Mike Schroeder.

“They’ve got a new sheriff in town,” Grindle said. “These guys don’t like Sandra Hutchens. She isn’t their puppet, like Carona was.”

Schroeder said politics played no role in her remarks and dismissed Grindle’s theory as “ridiculous.”

“On what planet has advocating for ethical law enforcement morphed into a Republican conspiracy?” Schroeder asked.

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Irvine School of Law, said he has not studied Orange County law enforcement specifically but believes “the code of silence is an enormous problem in law enforcement across the country.” He lauded Rackauckas “for doing what too often D.A.s are unwilling to do.”

“This is one of those rare instances where the D.A.’s office is willing to speak out about the problem with the code of silence,” Chemerinsky said.

Preparing a report nine years ago on the LAPD after the Rampart scandal, Chemerinsky said, he interviewed scores of police. “Officer after officer told me that if they reported misconduct of other officers, no one would be there to watch their back,” Chemerinsky said.

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christopher.goffard@ latimes.com