Assistant Prosecutor Takes Reins Riding Tall

Part good ol’ boy and part tough-minded law enforcer, Christopher W. Smith has won and lost his share of political battles while displaying an affable and conscientious demeanor that has charmed many over the years.

Pasadena’s new assistant city prosecutor is a frustrated cowboy, who admits to feeling more at home on the range than in the courtroom. Smith has a career history spanning nearly three decades of police and legal work.

After 20 years as a Los Angeles police officer, he retired in 1967. He has twice run for Los Angeles County district attorney, in 1972 and 1976, and twice lost in the primary election. As district attorney in tiny Alpine County near Lake Tahoe, he won a hard-fought battle against a right-wing group that tried to take over the area in 1978.

Roped Cattle

Before that, he roped cattle on a Texas ranch near his hometown until he was drafted at age 19 for World War II. He has also tried his hand at writing, something which he says is “in my blood,� but has yet to manifest itself as a manuscript he is ready to show anyone.

Now, after three months on the job in Pasadena, he is considering running again for district attorney in Los Angeles because “Ira Reiner is doing such a bad job.� But this time he wants to make sure he does his homework. “I don’t want to run again without money,� he said. “If I do a good job here, it’s something I’m thinking about doing.�

His age, however, is something he will not reveal. Divorced and the father of three grown children, he says with a wide grin that he is 38, which is not true. City officials said Smith is 63. Tall, slim and barely wrinkled, he does not look his age. That comes in handy, Smith says, for his admitted appreciation of “women somewhat younger than myself.�

Originally from a small town near Galveston, Tex., Smith moved to this area in 1946, when he took a fancy to Southern California after passing through on his return from the war. Since then, he has lived in Altadena, except for his four years from 1977 to 1981 in Alpine County, where “I

became the first black D.A. in the state,� he proudly says.

He attended UCLA for his undergraduate studies, balancing classes between split shifts as a downtown traffic officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. He graduated from UCLA in l952 and used his GI Bill benefits to attend law school at USC, while at the same time moving up the ranks in the Los Angeles Police Department. When he let the force in 1967 with the rank of sergeant, Smith had performed various duties, including working as a homicide detective.

City Atty. Victor Kaleta said he picked Smith over 18 applicants for the $59,821-a-year assistant city prosecutor’s job because “his workingstyle and his ability to work with people is a very critical skill. And he has a lot of familiarity with the crime problems facing the city and . . . a great deal of experience in law enforcement.�

And, Kaleta added, “he’s an interesting person.�

Prosecutes Misdemeanors

In his new post, Smith is responsible for a nine-person department that prosecutes misdemeanor violations of state and city laws.

So far, he has focused his attention on cracking down on prostitutes and drunk drivers; the former are something “you didn’t use to see in this city,� he said.�Now you do.�

Kaleta, Smith’s boss, said that under the new department head “there have been at least a half-dozen cases that have gotten significant jail time for prostitution since the beginning of the year. The office seems to be working very well.�

Drunk driving concerns Smith, he said, “because it is the only law on the books where a decent citizen can go to jail. It’s a bad situation, because usually they’re good, decent people and being arrested has a devastating effect on their lives. But it has to be done. The law has to be enforced.�

It is that attitude that led an old riding acquaintance to recommend Smith for the job in Pasadena.

Recommended by Robenson

Police Chief Jim Robenson, who met Smith about 18 years ago when they both rode their horses near the Arroyo Seco, said, “Chris really impressed me with his honesty. He’s just a very frank, straightforward person. There aren’t many people I speak for. I just don’t make recommendations.

“The guy is anti-crime and that’s what we need in this office,� Robenson said.

Despite Smith’s extensive experience--20 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, one year as deputy city prosecutor in Pasadena in 1967, nine years after that in the Los Angeles County public defender’s office, and four years in Alpine County--he has always felt more comfortable as a cowboy.

“I’m a frustrated cowboy,� he said. “I should have been a rancher instead of a lawyer.� But he realized early, he said, that he probably would never have enough money to buy a ranch, “so I decided to become a lawyer. It seemed to offer more opportunity.�

Still, he added, “I miss ranch life. I would cop to being a frustrated rancher, too.�

Least Populated County

That frustration prompted him to apply for the “part-time,� $28,000-a-year district attorney’s position in Alpine County, population hovering around 1,100 and the least populated county in the state. He figured at the time that he would be able to do some ranching and finally write a book.

“I applied, but I really didn’t expect to get it,� he said. “It was a small town and I knew they would have discovered that I was black. But they called me and asked me to interview with them.�

Taking the job, Smith soon realized that it was anything but part-time. He did live on a ranch and crammed in a little writing time here and there, but the job “was more like 100% of my time. I was immediately into this hassle with the Posse Comitatus.�

The Posse Comitatus (Latin for “power of the county�) is a right-wing, ultraconservative group that believes in God, guns, tax resistance and government only at the county level.

Caused a Stir

In 1978, the group caused quite a stir in otherwise tranquil Alpine County, where, in the county seat of Markleeville, they planned to build a 600-acre complex for their followers called “Constitution City.�

They also put forward a candidate for sheriff, John E. Buras, a former ambulance driver from Los Angeles who promised at the time that change “is going to descend upon this town so fast they won’t know what happened.�

Local residents were alarmed. New district attorney Chris Smith was even more alarmed. He had obtained documents from a meeting of the group that said the Posse Comitatus not only intended to build Constitution City, but take over the county as well by electing a sympathetic sheriff and district attorney.

That was the group’s biggest mistake. Smith, suspicious of the high number of new registered voters endorsing Buras, eventually convened the Grand Jury and filed perjury and felony election code-violation charges against 12 Buras backers, saying they were not residents of the county when they registered to vote.

Became Local Hero

All were convicted, Smith said. Buras lost the election, 521 to 12. Smith became a local hero and townspeople were quoted in newspaper articles as calling him “our tough black cowboy D.A.� The Posse Comitatus never did build Constitution City and peace and tranquility returned to Markleeville and Alpine County, although “they still have remnants of the organization there,� Smith said. “They still own property up there and they’re still a presence up there.�

Local folk took quite a liking to Smith. “They enjoyed him very much,� said Jeanne Lear, who was Smith’s secretary. “He was very astute politically and he had a real good political temperament for the movings of a small county.�

And, she added, “I think he rather enjoyed the image of the old western law enforcement officer.�

Nancy Thornburg, writer and photographer for the Alpine Enterprise, the area’s monthly newspaper, said Smith left a lasting impression on the community.

‘It Was a Great Victory

“He was very, very strong. He stood right up and got (Posse Comitatus). It was a great victory here. They were a pretty scary group,� Thornburg said. “It was very frightening.�

Thornburg also said that Smith seemed in his element in Alpine County. “I think that’s part of what drew him here,� she said. “He could play urban cowboy. He wore his big 10-gallon hat and his string tie to work . . . . I don’t really know of anyone who disliked him.�

In 1981, despite thinking that his time in Alpine County was “probably the best four years of my life,� Smith decided to return to Altadena. “Toward the end,� he said, “when the thing with the Posse Comitatus died down, I felt like I wasn’t very active in my profession as a lawyer. I had family, friends and property in Los Angeles and I wanted to get back to being a little more active in my profession.�

When he returned, he went into private practice, “handling mostly criminal cases, but a little bit of everything.�

Four years later, he heard about the job in Pasadena. “I thought that I could make a contribution here,� he said. “I think that my experience in this field will be good for Pasadena.�