Veteran Prosecutor Suspended With Pay
A veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor has been suspended amid charges of deliberate misconduct in an attempt to gain a tactical advantage in a 1988 robbery trial.
Rosalie Morton, a deputy district attorney in the San Fernando Courthouse, was suspended with pay based on a preliminary review of the case by U.S. Magistrate Volney Brown, said Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory Thompson.
The allegations stem from a robbery trial in which Morton, 66, introduced evidence in her opening statement to the jury that the judge had ruled inadmissible. A mistrial was subsequently declared and Morton filed a motion to disqualify the trial judge, Judge Dana Senit Henry.
Defense attorneys then filed a plea with Henry charging that Morton forced a mistrial in an attempt to have the case tried again before a new judge that would admit the suppressed evidence.
Morton is a 19-year-veteran of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
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