Gascon Re-Assigns DA Who Helmed Grossman Case

When running for re-election, it typically behooves the candidate to be as normal, as steady, as plausible as possible.

This does not apply to the challengers, of course, but it is one of the reasons that in most cities very controversial, very mega-building projects, for example, will never appear before the council after June in an election year.  In other words, no one is voting for 372 single-family homes to be built on 26 acres of land that used to be a dump just before an election.

Stay in your lane, don’t do anything too controversial, and for God’s sake don’t anything that looks both stupid and unethical and just plain weird.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon does not seem to understand that pearl of political wisdom and has just done something very weird, very stupid, and quite possibly very unethical.

Gascon has removed the supervising prosecutor, deputy district attorney Garrett Dameron, from the Rebecca Grossman case. Dameron and his trial court attorneys, Ryan Gould and Jamie Castro, in February secured the high profile murder conviction of the very wealthy, very noted Grossman.

Grossman, the wife of the founder of the Grossman Burn Center, was found guilty on two counts of murder, two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and one count of hit and run in the horrible deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander, ages 11 and 8.  The two were hit by Grossman’s speeding SUV while they were in a marked crosswalk in Westlake Village in 2020.

She was found guilty in February but has yet to be formally sentenced and her defense attorney, James Spertus, has maintained all along that the incident was a tragic accident and has plans to ask for a new trial.

This is where the weird comes in – Spertus is now also LA Assistant District Attorney Diana Teran’s defense attorney. About three weeks ago, Teran was charged by State Attorney General Rob Bonta with 11 felony counts – Teran is alleged to have improperly accessed sheriff’s departments personnel records and then used said information illegally.

Teran was  “in the chain of command” on the Grossman case, so the three deputy district attorneys who handled the case – Jamie Castro, Ryan Gould, and their direct boss Garrett Dameron filed a motion with the court to have Spertus “conflicted” off of Grossman’s defense team. In other words, they felt Spertus could not appropriately represent both clients, in part because a basis for an appeal/new trial request in the Grossman case could – in theory -be some form of allegation of prosecutorial misconduct.

Therefore, reasoned the deputies, that since Teran was directly involved in the Grossman case she shouldn’t have the same lawyer Grossman had.

For his part, Spertus has maintained there is no conflict and, or good measure, that both Grossman and Teran are innocent (he did not reply to a request for comment.)

After news of the change became public  through a Los Angeles Times article, Chief Deputy District Attorney Joseph Iniguez (of getting drunk and threatening police officers fame)  said Monday afternoon that Gould and Castro will stay on the case and that only supervisor Dameron would be off the team.

Dameron, who reportedly sent a rather nasty email to Iniguez about the re-assignment, will be replaced by the head of the Major Crimes Division Habib Balian.

It is not clear if the DA’s office will rescind the conflict motion, but it certainly appears they very well may as the office appears to think it has solved any potential conflict problem for Spertus and Teran.

“Accordingly, by re-assigning the matter to the Major Crimes Division’s chain of command and keeping the original trial attorneys, any potential internal conflict is resolved while ensuring that some of the most capable and experienced prosecutors in the office are responsible for the case,” said Iniguez.  “The decision to re-assign the matter was necessary to address any perceived internal conflict over past issues of supervision. This decision was made with the utmost consideration for the victims and their family, to protect the integrity of the legal process, and the jury verdict. We are confident that Ms. Grossman will be appropriately sentenced, and any legal issues that need to be resolved before that time will be vigorously litigated by our Major Crimes Division.”

Of course, the DA’s office could have just gone forward with its motion, rather than take the very unusual step of re-assigning a high profile case while an appeal/request for a new trial is clearly expected.

It is quite possible that the whole point of the legal musical chairs was to do Teran a favor so she could keep the lawyer she wanted and Spertus can keep working on the presumably high-dollar Grossman case.

And that’s gotta be ethical, right?  Or at least worth the political price?