Garcetti, Menendez Prosecutor Clash Over Promotion

Just six weeks ago, Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti sang the praises of prosecutor David Conn as they beamed before the television cameras, flush with victory after Conn won first-degree murder convictions and life prison sentences against the Menendez brothers.

Conn had won a big one, just when Garcetti, locked in a runoff battle to hold on to his office, really needed it. But now, the two have had a falling out that has the legal community buzzing.

The 45-year-old Conn, who for the past three years has run the prestigious major crimes unit as an acting head deputy, is unhappy at being passed over for a promotion. He also says he is being denied overtime he earned in 1994. And, he said, it has been suggested that he might be happier if he accepted a transfer to an outlying office.

Saying he feels betrayed by Garcetti, Conn is taking his case public.

“Now, Gil Garcetti acts like he doesn’t know me,� Conn said in an interview. “I’m devastated. I might as well go down fighting.�

Garcetti praised Conn’s trial skills, but said the promotion involved a management position, which he said “requires different skills and attitudes.� Conn, he said, simply wasn’t ready this time around.

“David is an extraordinary trial lawyer,� Garcetti said. “A promotion involves someone who’s interested in becoming a manager. David has told me he is not interested in being a manager. He wants to continue as a trial lawyer.�

“I know David is disappointed,� Garcetti said, while declining to discuss details. “This was one of those situations where I just had to say no.�

The dispute between Conn and Garcetti has left bruised feelings on both sides and has surprised many prosecutors, since Conn had been a Garcetti protege for more than a dozen years.

Conn’s public display of discontent couldn’t come at a worse time for Garcetti, who is seeking reelection to a second term, prosecutors and other lawyers said. He faces a runoff in November against John Lynch, head of the office’s Norwalk branch.

In an office still bristling over the $43,000 in bonuses awarded to O.J. Simpson prosecutors Marcia Clark, William Hodgman and Christopher A. Darden, some prosecutors said they aren’t sure about what kind of message Garcetti is sending.

Garcetti, however, said the promotion dispute highlights a long-standing problem in his office: how to reward top trial lawyers who don’t want to become managers. Right now, the highest they can go under civil service rules is Grade 4, which pays about $96,000 a year. Conn, who is a Grade 4, sought a promotion to Grade 5, which would make him a head deputy district attorney and raise his pay to more than $100,000 a year.

While acknowledging that the decision not to promote Conn puts him in a tough spot politically, Garcetti insists that he had no choice. Conn, he said, still is drawn to the battle of the courtroom. He needs to demonstrate other skills that will put him on a management track, Garcetti said.

Garcetti wouldn’t guarantee that Conn will continue as acting head of the major crimes unit. “I don’t know if he’s secure there or not,� Garcetti said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen as a result of David’s decisions.

“I remain a real fan of David Conn’s, but he has indicated to me clearly that his heart is still in being a trial lawyer and not in being a manager,� Garcetti said. “And this promotion really deals with being a manager.�

Conn said he already has proved himself as a manager and that he can run a division and try cases at the same time.

Herb Lapin, president of the Assn. of Deputy District Attorneys, said he believed that Conn’s name would be among the four prosecutors who were promoted to Grade 5 on Friday.

“I think he deserved it based on what he did--the fact he was an acting head deputy, the fact he was involved in the early O.J. Simpson case, the fact he won the Menendez case when Gil really needed that win,� said Lapin, who leads the association that bargains on behalf of prosecutors.

But Garcetti said promoting Conn wouldn’t be fair to other veteran trial lawyers in his office.

Conn, who has been a prosecutor for 18 years, says his difficulties began the day after the Menendez brothers were convicted of murdering their parents. He said he immediately was confronted with a March 29 letter from Sheriff Sherman Block to Garcetti, complaining about Conn’s rough cross-examination of Deputy Dwight Van Horn, a firearms expert called as a defense witness during the Menendez trial.

Block, a key Garcetti supporter, complained that Conn’s “attack on Deputy Van Horn was, to say the least, hostile, overly aggressive and unwarranted. He questioned Deputy Van Horn’s credibility, competence, loyalty and motives.�

Conn said he was only doing his job, and Garcetti denied that Block’s complaint cost Conn his promotion. Block could not be reached for comment.

Last week, Assistant Dist. Atty. R. Dan Murphy sent Block a letter of reply. It backed Conn, saying his “duties as a prosecutor mandated that he vigorously cross-examine any defense witness who challenges a fundamental aspect of his case.�

Meanwhile, Lynch said he would welcome Conn’s support in his bid to unseat Garcetti. But Conn remains noncommittal on that point, saying he still hopes Garcetti will “do the right thing.�