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Contact: Anthony V. Salerno, (310) 286-7262 or Anthony@SalernoCriminalDefense.com

Author's Name

Anthony V. Salerno

Phone

(310) 286-7262

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www.avscriminallaw.com

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Century City criminal defense attorney Anthony V. Salerno filed a motion to disqualify the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office today in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The motion outlines a widespread conflict of interest within that Office in which the non-prosecution of criminal cases is conditioned on the settlement of related civil actions. Such actions are considered extortion and are explicitly prohibited by State Bar Ethics rules.

The motion became necessary when several of Salerno’s clients (commercial building owners, a media company and its owner and an installation company and its owner) were being prosecuted for supposedly illegal supergraphic signs and simultaneously being sued over the same conduct. In several meetings between the civil lawyers for the clients a supervisory Deputy City Attorney, Jeff Isaacs, explicitly stated that he could convince "Nuch" to back off of the demand for two years of jail if the civil cases were settled for high dollar figures. Such a deal was in fact granted in at least one other related case, and this settlement was cited by Mr. Isaacs as a template for settlement of our cases.

While the Mr. Isaacs maintains their Office maintains a "wall of separation," it is apparent that such a wall does not actually exist. Salerno has an outstanding discovery request for communications and memos which might memorialize evidence of Trutanich’s intention to leverage the civil cases with the criminal cases.

Trutanich’s efforts to target supergraphics banners in the City have been controversial and many – including City Council Member Jan Perry and District Attorney Steve Cooley – have questioned his tactics and his integrity.

Salerno believes that Trutanich has gone too far this time, and that he has the goods to prove it. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. No lawyer is allowed to extort monetary settlements, and for the chief prosecutor in the City to do it is outrageous. In all my years as a criminal defense attorney I can honestly say at no time have I dealt with a prosecutor who acted unethically. Not anymore. I am appalled, and I am convinced the court will be too."