’ . . . It is my opinion that there are from five to 10 times more pleading errors in Hawthorne cases than in Inglewood cases.’--John J. Lynch, Inglewood Municipal Court judge : Hawthorne Chided for Filing Errors in Misdemeanor Cases

In a letter to Hawthorne officials, an Inglewood Municipal Court judge has criticized the city for typographical and pleading errors in the filing of misdemeanor cases that he says led, in some cases, to the prosecution of the wrong person.

The contentions in the seven-page letter by Judge John J. Lynch were soundly denied last week by City Atty. Mike Adamson, who said he has studied the allegations and found no evidence to support Lynch’s conclusions.

Lynch, who hears misdemeanor cases for Hawthorne and Inglewood, said in the letter that “it is my opinion that there are from five to 10 times more pleading errors in Hawthorne cases than in Inglewood cases.”

However, the presiding judge in the Inglewood Municipal Court, as well as police officials and a former city prosecutor, said they are unaware of the problems cited in the Lynch letter.

Lynch has declined public comment on the letter.

The letter, a copy of which was recently obtained by The Times, lists examples of errors Lynch said can “expose the city to unnecessary lawsuits” and suggests possible solutions.

The letter was sent to Adamson, Councilman Steven Andersen and then-Police Chief Kenneth Stonebraker on Jan. 24, 1989. In August, Lynch sent copies of the letter to Mayor Betty J. Ainsworth and Councilwoman Ginny Lambert. Councilman Charles Bookhammer said he and Councilman David York did not receive a copy of the letter.

Lynch’s letter does not say when he first believed that there was a problem and does not specify the number of typographical and pleading errors he perceived. Hawthorne prosecutes about 3,000 cases a year, according to Adamson. Half are heard by Lynch and half by Judge William Ormsby.

Ormsby could not be reached for comment last week.

Hawthorne and Inglewood are among eight cities in Los Angeles County that prosecute their own misdemeanor cases. Other cities turn the responsibility over to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Adamson, who oversees Hawthorne’s prosecutions, said he has discussed the letter with his staff and police officials and found no evidence to support Lynch’s criticisms.

“I’m not for one minute indicating that we had those problems that Lynch mentioned,” Adamson said.

Still, Adamson said he responded to the letter by sending a memo to his staff in January outlining the proper filing procedure so they would have a written guideline.

After the issue surfaced at a City Council meeting in August, Adamson said, he also assigned Deputy City Atty. Marilyn Wiczynski to investigate Lynch’s concerns and report back to the council. In a letter dated Oct. 9, Wiczynski told the council that she met this month with Lynch, who told her the errors “appear to be reduced and comparable to those I see in Inglewood pleadings.”

Adamson said he first learned about Lynch’s concerns in early January and called the judge to ask him to “put (his concerns) in letter form so I could have them addressed one by one.”

Since then, Adamson said, he has not been contacted by Lynch.

Raymon Sulser, a candidate in the Nov. 7 council race and longtime friend of the judge, said Lynch recently told him that some of his concerns have yet to be addressed. Sulser said Lynch did not elaborate.

Most of the complaints in the letter focus on alleged errors by the Police Department’s clerical workers, who prepare the complaint forms used by city prosecutors to file charges.

In one example, the letter said a case had to be delayed three times because the wrong section of the Penal Code was cited.

“Sometimes there is the correct code section and correct narrative but essential language is omitted, sometimes an entire line of text is left out by the typist. Sometimes . . . a critical word is omitted,” the letter said.

The letter suggests that complaint forms be prepared in the city attorney’s office, where prosecutors can more closely scrutinize the process. Adamson said Hawthorne does not have the personnel or office space to move the operation to the city attorney’s office.

Adamson defended the city’s current system. “The people that work at the Police Department are very, very competent,” he said.

Capt. David Barnes, who oversees the police records division, acknowledged that clerks sometimes make mistakes but said the city prosecutor is responsible for reviewing the forms before going to trial.

“Yeah, we have (made) some of those mistakes identified in that letter,” he said.

Barnes, who said he read the letter in January, also rejected the criticisms, saying he has seen no evidence of a problem in the city’s prosecution of misdemeanor cases.

Inglewood Municipal Court Presiding Judge Wardell Moss said that he has been told of the letter but that “no one has come to me as the presiding judge with complaints involving Hawthorne.”

Russel Miyahira, a former city prosecutor who resigned a year ago to work for a private Los Angeles law firm, said he noticed some minor typographical errors while working for the city but added that it was “no worse than what you see in the private sector.”

Stephen Port, who took over as police chief when Stonebraker retired in July, said he has not found proof for the criticisms in the letter and said the Police Department is “going on with business as usual.”

In the letter, Lynch suggested that the city more thoroughly review complaints to screen weak cases and avoid prosecuting the wrong person, which he said has occurred a number of times.

As an example, Lynch said the city prosecuted a Hawthorne resident this year, charging him with breaking into an apartment and threatening the occupant. Lynch’s letter said it was clear from the testimony in the trial that the defendant was in fact the victim of a false complaint.

“The case never should have been filed,” the letter said. “The evidence for the prosecution was so weak that the city may be liable in a civil lawsuit if one is filed. There was simply no substantial evidence to support the charges.”

Adamson said his staff studied the court documents on all the examples in the letter and said he “doesn’t necessarily agree with the judge’s conclusions.”

Lynch’s letter was first made public during a City Council meeting in August when Sulser told the council that he had a copy of the letter and asked that an outside agency investigate Lynch’s concerns.

Sulser told the council that he was “very concerned about the liability of the city” and suggested that the city save money and avoid potential liability suits by having the district attorney’s office prosecute the city’s misdemeanor cases.

Councilman York, a former police officer and law enforcement advocate, said the city attorney’s “aggressive prosecution rate and conviction rate” have curbed prostitution along Imperial Highway, which shows that it is a “positive move” for the city to prosecute its own misdemeanors.

In an interview, Adamson said the city would lose local control by relinquishing the city’s misdemeanor cases. He said that at the request of the council he is studying the cost of paying the county to take the cases.

Mayor Ainsworth said that she has talked to Adamson and Port about the letter and that both have reassured her that the problems have been addressed.

She said the main criticisms seemed to center on typographical errors in the police station, and “as far as I know it’s been taken care of.”

Bookhammer said he did not attend the meeting in which the letter was discussed and has not seen the letter. He said there “probably is some kind of problem, but to the extent of that I can’t answer.”

He said he suspects that the letter is a “political ploy” being used by Sulser to make the city look bad.

“In my opinion it was politically motivated,” he said. “Nothing surprises me during a political campaign.”

Sulser rejected Bookhammer’s charge, noting that it was the city attorney who originally asked Lynch to write the letter. “How can it be politically motivated?” he asked.

Sulser said he raised the issue in August because “I’m interested in the people of the city of Hawthorne not being hurt. . . . If there are things done wrong in the city, I just want to see them corrected.”

Lambert said she is concerned about the criticisms in the letter and is planning to talk to Port about them.

“I’m certainly not going to put it aside and tell you it’s unimportant. . . . I’m very concerned about it, but I have not spoken to the chief about it,” she said.

She said she does not think the letter is politically motivated because she said Lynch is a well-respected judge who “would not write such a letter unless he had some genuine concerns.”