News
Criminal
Feb. 28, 2002
Riverside DA Fights for Another Term
RIVERSIDE - During 20 years in office, District Attorney Grover Trask has taken his share of chances. When a mobile-home fire from a drug-lab explosion killed three children in the middle of the Riverside desert six years ago, Trask went after the drug manufacturer - winning a murder conviction in the first prosecution of its kind in California.
When a mobile-home fire from a drug-lab explosion killed three children in the middle of the Riverside desert six years ago, Trask went after the drug manufacturer - winning a murder conviction in the first prosecution of its kind in California.
And when Trask had to decide whether to bring murder charges against the white police officers who shot 19-year-old African-American Tyisha Miller, the district attorney declined - despite pressure from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton and backlash from the African-American community.
But Trask's challenger in the March 5 election contends that the district attorney's best days as an independent-thinking law enforcer are over.
Assistant District Attorney Brian J. Sussman's battle cry, a familiar one in Southern California district attorney races, is that his boss has been in office too long, that he rules by politics, not justice, and that his deputies dare not defy him.
"This is an office operated on fear and intimidation," Sussman, 43, said. "People I've been friends with in this office for 17 years won't even look in my direction because I'm running against [Trask]."
A letter that Deputy District Attorney Kelton Tobler sent to fellow members of the Riverside Deputy District Attorneys Association reflects some support for Sussman's claim.
"There is no reason for people to keep their heads down and speak about this in whispers," Tobler wrote of the election, urging support for Sussman and calling for an end to "the atmosphere of fear and discomfort" in the office.
But Trask, 54, deflects such slings with confidence.
The majority of his troops remain on board, he notes - although the 55-40 vote by the deputies' association to endorse him was close. And morale has "absolutely not" been sinking, Trask said.
Trask also roundly dismisses Sussman's assertion that the office went easy on a cop accused of molestation so that Trask wouldn't lose Police Department support.
Indio police Officer Blaine Trimble, 28, was charged with a series of misdemeanors for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student at Indio High School, where he was stationed. A judge dismissed two of the charges, and Trimble eventually pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of consensual digital penetration with a minor. He was sentenced to six months in jail, placed on three years' probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.
Sussman contends Trimble should have been charged as severely as Mark Ward Herring, a Rubidoux High School teacher charged two years ago with 12 felony counts of having sex with a 15-year-old student. Herring lost his teaching credential and was sentenced to four years in prison. He also had to pay $9,600 in restitution to the victim's family.
Deputy District Attorney Sue Steding, who prosecuted Trimble, said her office decided to file misdemeanor rather than felony charges against the defendant because of his lack of criminal history, his minimal contact with the victim and his agreement to plead guilty at his arraignment.
"We were prepared to file a felony if he elected not to plead in the beginning," Steding said.
Filing the case as a misdemeanor helped expedite it and "bring closure to the victim at the earliest possible time," the prosecutor said.
But Sussman asserts that the critical difference between the Trimble and Herring cases is that "[the Trimble] case involves a police officer right before an election."
Trask would not comment on why the comparable crimes were charged differently, but he chafed at Sussman's characterization.
"Shame on him," Trask said. "Brian Sussman knows what high ethical standards I require of him as well as my other deputies. To suggest that anyone is doing anything for reasons other than justice in the circumstances of this case is in my opinion political rhetoric. He doesn't have any other issues of relevance to talk about."
Sussman, who became the office's youngest supervisor in 1990 at 32, does have some key philosophical differences with his boss.
Sussman said he would continue to try cases if elected district attorney. He said he has tried "at least" one case every year since he became a supervising deputy more than a decade ago and that Trask has "totally neglected the office" while traveling to Sacramento and elsewhere drumming up money and support for programs.
"He's an absentee landlord," Sussman said of his boss. "I plan to be here, running the office."
Trask said his underling misses the point: A major part of the district attorney's job is lobbying. Trask contends that his ties with the California District Attorneys Association and National District Attorneys Association were critical in the office's successful lobbying for juvenile justice reforms and Prop. 115, which allowed prosecutors access to defense discovery.
"The district attorney has an obligation to participate, supervise or run programs that improve the administration of justice. You spend 70 percent of your time getting resources, setting goals and making the office stand out in the state and nationally."
As district attorney, Sussman said, he would establish "neighborhood prosecutions," in which prosecutors in different county offices would handle all types of cases rather than ship certain matters to Riverside to be handled by specialized units.
Trask said the concept of community prosecutions is in place, for example through the Youth Accountability Team. Trask launched the program four years ago to combat truancy and delinquency in 19 school districts in the county.
He said Sussman's neighborhood prosecution idea would be "extremely costly and ineffective."
"To have deputies in essentially every city in the county would essentially double our staff," Trask said, adding that prosecutors need to work near the courts to be effective.
Trask, a San Diego native with a law degree from University of California, San Diego, has worked in the Riverside district attorney's office since 1974. He ran for district attorney and won in 1982, then ran unopposed for two terms before defeating his first challengers, Deputy District Attorney Tom Eckhardt and attorney Frank Guzman, in 1994.
Trask beat Eckhardt again in 1998, garnering 70 percent of the vote. The district attorney has raised more than $200,000 for this year's race, compared to Sussman's $25,000 in donations.
Sussman, who says he will spend an additional $50,000 of his own money for campaigning, joined the Riverside district attorney's office a year after getting his law degree with honors from Pepperdine in 1984. He has prosecuted rapes, murders, vehicular manslaughters, drug manufacturing, lynchings and illegal betting.
"There's nothing in this office I haven't done, maybe except the budget, which I can learn," said Sussman, who has pledged to stay in office just two terms if he is elected. "I don't think anyone else is more prepared than me to run it."
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Jason Armstrong & Sean Windle
Daily Journal Staff Writer
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