San Diego Daily Transcript

September 11, 2003

Federal judge denies Orange County DA's document request

SANTA ANA (AP) - A federal judge has ruled that Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas may not review records of a state attorney general investigation of his office.

Rackauckas requested the documents as part of his effort to defend against a federal lawsuit filed by his prosecutor Mike Jacobs, who alleged he was fired in 2001 after accusing Rackauckas of misconduct.

Jacobs won his job back in March through mediation.

The attorney general probe into whether Rackauckas committed a crime and shut down an investigation of one of his friends did not result in any criminal charges. Investigators later helped prepare a county grand jury report that was extremely critical of Rackauckas' conduct in office.

The district attorney sought the documents and records from that probe, but federal magistrate Judge Marc Goldman ruled on Sept. 4 they were irrelevant to Jacobs' lawsuit and were protected.

"The requests seem more calculated to allow the defendants to parse the attorney general's files for the purpose of constructing a legal or political rebuttal to the findings of the grand jury" than a legitimate attempt to retrieve evidence, Goldman wrote.

A spokesman for Rackauckas declined to comment on the decision.

Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, praised the magistrate's decision. The attorney general's office had argued that the records were confidential and should not be shared.