2 Lawndale Men Guilty in Disposal of Asbestos : Toxics: The state will seek six months in jail at the sentencing hearing on April 15 for the city's public works director and a former city manager.

By KIM KOWSKY

March 7, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

When Lawndale Public Works Director James Sanders personally mounted a bulldozer in June, 1989, to raze a run-down city building that had become a public nuisance, he became something of a local hero.

But the take-charge attitude, which earned the newly hired department head the praise of some city officials, fell flat in court. A jury this week agreed with a prosecutor that Sanders “went too far” in single-handedly plowing down a building that he knew contained asbestos.

Sanders, along with former City Manager James Arnold, who was his boss at the time and also knew about the asbestos, were each convicted of five misdemeanor counts of illegally disposing of hazardous materials.

“I believe Jim Sanders had good intent, but he did it (demolished the building) in too gung-ho a fashion,” jury foreman Christopher Grant, a structural mechanic who lives in Redondo Beach, said in an interview Wednesday. “When they decided to take on that demolition job as their own responsibility, they should have reviewed the codes and known the law.”

During the trial, defense attorneys said Sanders discovered asbestos tiles in the last wall of four he had knocked down during his first day at the site, the old city yard at 167th Street and Osage Avenue. As soon as he made the discovery, he watered down the area and had the tiles separated into barrels by workers wearing face masks and old clothing for protection, they said. The tiles were taken to a dump licensed to handle hazardous material.

But several jurors said after the trial that evidence that at least three walls of the building were covered with asbestos tiles convinced them that Sanders, who continued to drive heavy machinery around the lot for five days, had crushed asbestos under the bulldozer’s wheels.

Once a common form of insulation, asbestos is considered a hazardous material because it contains tiny fibers that may cause cancer if swallowed or inhaled. Although asbestos tiles are generally considered less dangerous than friable asbestos, a form that easily crumbles, both prosecution and defense experts testified that asbestos tiles could become harmful, if pulverized into a powder.

Arnold, who knew about the asbestos, should have stopped Sanders immediately and had a crew licensed to perform asbestos removal go out to remove the tiles, said juror Gary Watson, an aerospace engineer from Palos Verdes Estates. If he had, “we probably wouldn’t have been here today,” he said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Anthony Patchett, who called the evidence against Sanders and Arnold “overwhelming,” said he will seek a six-month jail term at the sentencing hearing on April 15. In addition, the men each face up to $100,000 in fines.

“These were egregious and intentional acts,” Patchett said. “They shouldn’t be able to walk out of it without feeling some sanctions.”

Neither Arnold nor Sanders testified in their own behalf and both men declined to comment during the trial, which was heard in the courtroom of South Bay Municipal Court Judge Deanne Smith Myers. But after the verdict was read Tuesday, Sanders approached reporters outside the courtroom.

“I would like to make a statement,” Sanders said. “It’s three words: We were framed.”

He refused to elaborate and walked away.

Attorneys for both men said they would recommend that their clients appeal the verdict.

“I’m confident we will prevail on appeal, because the evidence presented doesn’t really fit the crime that was charged,” Brendan O’Neill, Sanders’ attorney, said. The state Health and Safety Code, under which they were charged, “really applies to a different issue than was prosecuted here,” he said.

O’Neill’s comment referred to what became a key issue during the trial: whether knocking down a building containing asbestos constituted a disposal of hazardous materials under the state Health and Safety Code.

In an early poll, four jurors said they were inclined to deem the men not guilty because of confusion over the issue, Grant said. But after deliberations that lasted eight hours, the jury unanimously agreed that Sanders’ operation of the bulldozer resulted in an illegal disposal of hazardous material, he said.

“Everyone pretty much thought Sanders was guilty,” but it took awhile before jurors agreed that Arnold was also to blame, Grant said.

Defense attorneys argued during the trial that the Lawndale City Council had pressured Arnold and Sanders into demolishing the dilapidated building, which had become “an embarrassment” to the city.

“We felt, particularly with Mr. Arnold, that there was so little evidence--there was no evidence that he had done anything wrong--that to find him guilty, the jury would also have to find the City Council and everyone else guilty,” Patricia Friedel, Arnold’s attorney, said.

But in an interview Tuesday, Councilwoman Carol Norman denied that the council had pressured Sanders to get rid of the building.

“I am extremely angry,” Norman said. “I don’t ever want to be accused of encouraging a city worker to break the law.”

She also said that Sanders, who still works for Lawndale, should be fired for his actions. “Somebody who is guilty of such gross negligence and willful disregard should not work for the city of Lawndale,” she said.

But Mayor Harold Hofmann, who testified on behalf of the defense that removing the eyesore was “a high priority” for council members, said he continues to support Sanders, because “the guy did what we told him to do.”

“It’s a sad state of affairs when somebody tries to do his job and they get the shaft like this,” Hofmann said. “I just don’t think it’s fair.”

City Atty. David Aleshire said that, as a result of the jury’s verdict, the city would reevaluate whether it wants to pay Sanders’ and Arnold’s future legal bills. In July, the council voted 5 to 0 to put aside $40,000 for their defense.