Carmen Trutanich Vs. L.A. Weekly: In Legal Brief, City Attorney Grouses About 'Biased' Coverage

Carmen Trutanich Vs. L.A. Weekly: In Legal Brief, City Attorney Grouses About "Biased" Coverage

By Gene Maddaus Tue., Apr. 3 2012 at 2:58 PM

Los Angeles ~~City Attorney~~ Chief Prosecutor Carmen Trutanich

D.A. candidate Carmen Trutanich is going to court next week to defend his right to be called "Los Angeles Chief Prosecutor" on the June ballot.

On his way there, Trutanich is taking a few shots at the L.A. Weekly, which broke this story last month. Here's what we wrote at the time about Trutanich's proposed ballot designation:

The phony title seems intended to make voters think Trutanich is already the district attorney, so voting for him would be like voting for the incumbent.

Rival candidate Alan Jackson later sued, alleging that Trutanich's title is illegal because it is misleading. He cited the L.A. Weekly to back up his allegation, and that's where it starts to get good.

In a response filed Monday, Trutanich's attorney, Stephen Kaufman, asserts that an L.A. Weekly blog post cannot be used as evidence in a trial:

"As his main authority, Petitioner relies on an article from the Los Angeles Weekly that contains the opinions of a writer who has expressed obvious disdain for Trutanich in the past."

Not sure if he's referring to this or this. (We also seem to have plenty of company.) Anyway, Kaufman goes on to ask the judge to strike the article from the record because it "contains the biased opinions of its author and does not contain any recognizable facts."

Well, then who would be a good, non-biased source? In support of his case, Kaufman cites memos and press releases issued by Trutanich's own office, and an award from the California Narcotic Officers Association, which named Trutanich "Prosecutor of the Year" in 2011.

Who is the California Narcotic Officers Association? The former awards chairman is Gary Schram, who happens to be Trutanich's assistant in charge of the Bureau of Investigations. But certainly his opinions deserve great weight in this matter.

Bottom line, either "Los Angeles Chief Prosecutor" is a misleading title or it isn't. The L.A. Weekly is on record saying that it is, but ultimately, the opinion that matters will belong to the judge.

The hearing is set for April 11.
Opposition to Petition for Writ of MandateObjections to Petitioner's Request for Judicial Notice in Support of Petition for Writ of Mandate

Tags:

Alan Jackson, Carmen Trutanich, district attorney, Los Angeles Chief Prosecutor

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ScottZwartz

Trutanich's argument is embarrassing. He could call himself Los Angeles City Prosecutor if he wished, but why not use his real title, "City Attorney"?

He definitely is not Los Angeles CHIEF Prosecutor. Because the County and the City have the same name, CHIEF Prosecutor has to refer to the Prosecutor who prosecutes the murders, rapes, and other major crimes. "Misdemeanors" and "CHIEF" are essentially opposites, like the difference between "small" and "LARGE."

Someone needs to take Nuch aside and explain that he has a serious mental problem. He is suffering from some defect of reasoning. His behavior is not rational even for a crook. The first question in a mental status examination is whether you know who you are. When you fail that question, you've got a problem.

Lindsay Lohan got her act together; now it's Nuch's turn.

James_McCuen

Trutanich should run for DA. Read Why the City Attorney Should Never be Allowed to Run for District Attorney by Richard Lee Abrams on CityWatchLA.

http://www.citywatchla.com/com...

Joe Friday

Truanich's best argument for why he should be allowed to mislead voters by giving himself a false and misleading title is that the LA Weekly is 'baised' against him? WOW! I suppose that's an example of Trutanich's amazing 'Porcupine Defense' and it will fail as miserably in front of a real judge next week, as it failed spectacularly last week when a Federal jury found in favor of a gang member after Trutanich screwed up the trial with his schoolyard bully legal tactics. Now Trutanich is trying to spin that disaster into a success, claiming that his recommendation to pay $4.5M to a gang member who was shot by LAPD while running away from a drive-by shooting, will 'save' the City $4.5M if he screws up the damages phase of the trial.

Message to LA: Trutanich isn't 'Los Angeles Chief Prosecutor,' he doesn't 'save' millions of dollars by paying out claims instead of winning trials, and he hasn't shut down any pot shops either. Trutainich is what the LA Weekly had the guts to call him; A Liar. It seems the rest of LA is finally getting the message about what a complete phony this overpaid liar is.

SZwartz

There is a more fundamental reason that Trutanich should not be DA, as set out in CityWatch about a month ago. He knows too much confidential City information to become DA. Not only do the councilmembers and others like the Fire Chief who displeased him have to worry about confidential being sued against them, the public has to worry about Trutanich covering up wrongdoing where he gave bad advise to the City, its department heads, and councilmembers.

The sole and only way to protect both the City and the public if Nuch is DA is for the State of California to set up a huge section of the AG's office to handle anything that has to do with the City of LA, including any and all corruption by the CRA and the developers and that would have to be in place at least the day before Trutanich took office.

Let's remember that if CIM Group has ripped off the City for a few millions, that investigation would necessarily involve both Garcetti and Wesson and Perry and would halt the entire CIM Group investigation by the DA if Trutanich becomes the DA.

Val

To Jack Humphreville, the answer to you question is obvious. Trutanich is a con-man. He sold himself to you and to everyone in LA as the non-politician, and because his main rival was Jackass Weisshole, we had not choice. But we have a choice about what to do with Nuch now that he has revealed his true colors. In his lie-laden campaign for DA, he is opposed by decent, ethical career prosecutors like Alan Jackson or Jackie Lacey; we can vote for them and put an end to the nightmare of allowing this total flake another bully pit. Once he loses the DA race, he can be sent into oblivion because he won't have a chance against Paul Krekorian, who will be a decent City Attorney, unlike Nuch and his John Shallman campaign managed heir apparent Mike Feuer.

Jack Humphreville

What is Nuch doing with Atty Kaufamn. This lawyer represents the dark side. Kaufman represented campaign funding Union Bo$$ d'Arcy, the public be damned business manager of the IBEW, when he sued the IBEW Eight in connection with Measure B, the Mayor's Solar Plan that was a payback for campaign contributions.

Noel Weiss

Unsuccessfully, I might add. . . Kaufman lost. . . Right Jack?

Noel Weiss

Joe Friday

Look at Trutanich's endorsement list and who's on it - they are all from the dark side. The big city hall insiders with their special interest slush funds that he needs to sell his 'Chief Prosecutor' lie to uninformed voters. What kind of ''bang for their buck' do they expect from Trutanich as DA? Maybe a guarantee that with a DA like Trutanich, the DA's office won't come after them? Not too much of a stretch of the imagination is it?