His Career in Law Nothing to Beef About

He wanted to be the hometown butcher. Instead, Maury Evans wound up a lawyer--a 26-year prosecutor who rose through the ranks to become chief assistant to Dist. Atty. Mike Capizzi.

When Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Rackauckas was sworn in as the new district attorney on Monday, Evans was home in Anaheim enjoying his first day of retirement.

Rackauckas was gracious in lauding Capizzi, a political adversary, for his 34 years of service to the county. Capizzi isn’t the only good lawyer the county is losing.

Evans, 62, is hardly a household name, except perhaps to news reporters who often depended on him to answer questions about the district attorney’s office. Most of Evans’ work was behind the scenes rather than in the courtroom. Even in his biggest case, the prosecution of fireworks czar Patrick Moriarty for illegal political funding, lead attorney Capizzi got the publicity.

But Evans’ admirers come from all sides of the courtroom. His friendship with Public Defender Carl Holmes helped keep their two offices--natural opponents--working together smoothly. A few months ago, at a luncheon for crime victims, I heard Chief Justice Ronald M. George single out Evans for his current work on the state Judicial Council.

Talk about a resume: serving on the board of governors for the state Bar Assn. and the board of directors of the local bar, chairing or co-chairing bar committees on issues as varied as ethics, the homeless and gang violence.

He’s also a longtime board member of a program that helps crime victims deal with the trauma of appearing in court. With his retirement, Evans also resigned as its board president.

“It’s a great loss for us,” said program director Barbara Phillips. “Maury has a presence that brings admiration and respect from all on our board.”

Here’s what happened to Evans’ future as a butcher:

Evans was raised in small-town Beaumont, which most of us only know as a town we pass through on our way to Palm Springs. Evans saw it as the center of the universe. So after high school, going to work in the local grocery was about as goal-oriented as he got.

It was his mother who convinced him to join the Army when he was unhappy with his job. He later became a lowly FBI clerk. He was about to give that up to learn the butcher trade back home when suddenly he got a transfer to San Diego and a better FBI job. Evans eventually did become an FBI agent, in Memphis and New York City.

“When I thought about going to law school, it was my wife, Peggy, who said, ‘We can do it.’ We had just adopted our son David, and then we discovered Peggy was pregnant with our daughter Susannah. But Peggy said, ‘Maury, if you want to go to law school, we can do it.’ I’ll never forget her saying that.”

A year after graduation from California Western Law School in San Diego County in 1973, he joined the Orange County prosecutor’s office.

Evans’ rise was swift; he was promoted to the supervisorial level after just six years. When Capizzi took over as prosecutor in 1990, he made Evans his chief assistant.

“I never expected it,” Evans said. “But we spent a lot of time doing that Moriarty case in federal court in Los Angeles. Commuting back and forth together, we became pretty close.”

With Capizzi leaving to run (unsuccessfully) for attorney general, former prosecutor-turned-judge Rackauckas easily won the D.A.’s race in June. Evans announced his retirement to make it less awkward for Rackauckas to install his own management team.

Evans will now work part time with Tom Goethals and Gary Pohlson, two former prosecutors now in private practice. But mostly he wants to travel and get more involved with his church.

Reflecting on his career, Evans smiled and said: “Who would have dreamed 30 years ago that I’d wind up on a first-name basis with the chief justice of the state Supreme Court?” The meat-cutting world’s loss turned out to be our gain.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 966-7823, by fax at (714) 966-7711 or by e-mail at jerry.hicks@latimes.com