Deputy D.A. Had an Ethical Duty

* As a deputy district attorney and a reserve police officer for a local law enforcement agency assigned to patrol, I have dedicated my career to public safety and unswerving allegiance to the law and high ethics. Last year, The Times editorial staff applauded my firm ethical stance as a Brea Olinda school board member for halting an unauthorized grade-changing practice in my district. On Sept. 4, however, you fault me with making a policy in the district attorney’s office that resulted in less stringent punishment for persons caught with drugs in our local jails.

First, I had a responsibility to inform my supervisors about jail signs that were not in compliance with state law. I do not make law, legislators do. My ethical prosecutorial duty requires me to disclose exculpatory information to defense counsel. I did so immediately and would not have it any other way. As a deputy district attorney, a cop and an education leader, I do not walk a gray line on ethics and I hope The Times was not suggesting that I turn my back on the law in order to lengthen a defendant’s incarceration. Second, in my role as a trial lawyer in my office, I am not allowed to make policy decisions--only supervisors can do so, which is what occurred in this case. Third, your editorial hinges on an incorrect assumption drawn from your Aug. 27 article: that an appellate court had already decided that the signs were unnecessary for prosecution despite the mandatory language for having such signs in the statute. Wrong. No appellate court anywhere in this state has addressed this issue. I knew that the law was undecided on that issue when I went to my supervisor to seek a recommendation.

In your role as editorialists, you can sit back and ask all the tough questions. In our role, we must find solutions to complex legal dilemmas where there is not always direction from an appellate court, while at all times maintaining the highest prosecutorial ethics.

TODD ALLAN SPITZER

Deputy district attorney