News Scrapbook 1986-1988

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) San Diego Union (Cir. D. 217,089) (Cir. s. 341,840) :t 1 t

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, Landon's post as defender revives allegations ?-1 S'~ By Jon tandefer visors questioned its rising costs - Landon bas never been charged be did not do so on advice of bis law- Starr riter and insiders say the resurgence of with a crime and be denies the alle- yer. He said he had not attempted to The naming of a well-known San the 15-year-old allegations against gation. enter a state prison in the 14 years 1 Diego defense attorney to bead the Landon could further threaten the However, a Department of Correc- since. county's new community defender program. tions investigation resulted in a June "It will be a rather incongruous program being questioned after ''This is probably going to do him 25, 1973, directive barring Landon situation if the community defender allegations have re urfaced that the in," said a CDI board member, who from every prison in the state sys- can't even walk into the new prison," at orn y aided a state prison escape claimed it was never discussed when tern. Department officials said this said a defense attorney, who would

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m 1972 that resulted in the death of a

not be quoted by name.

the board chose Landon as executive week that the directive is still in

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Dally Tr nacrlpt (Cir. D. 7,415)

Assemblyman Larry Stirling, R- San Diego, this week sent supervisors copies of a 1975 appellate court un- published opinion that included state-

guard.

director.

force.

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Members of U e board of Commu- nlty Defenders Inc (CDI) will meet " t Thurs!lay to discuss whether LauJ n should remain as head I

The allegation against Landon was made by an inmate at Chino state prison who escaped custody in Octo- ber 1972 when a revolutionary group waylaid the car in which two guards San Bernardino courthouse. The in- mate, who later testified against his rescuers, said Landon smuggled out of prison the plans for the escape.

That ~an will ~xtend .to the new s!-3te prlSOn that IS nearing comple-

lion on Otay Mesa.

"That has never been r~inded, ments about how Landon allegedly

of the pro legal sen c

m, aimed at providing

therefore, I would honor 1t,

John

smuggled out plans for the prison es-

to th

co nty's poor.

were transporting the inmate to the Ratelle, the superintendent of the

cape.

AV 1 1987

Fr

The program has be n put on hold

new Ri~hard J. Donovan Correction- al Facility, said yesterday. Asked this week why he had never challenged the directive, Landon said

"I'm not trying to torpedo (the pro- posal)," Stirling said. "But this ques-

uni I

t y

Photo

rt for CDI already bas begun because some county super-

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Alex Landon, executive director of Community Def,~derS1. -_-....::--...:::--=-~-=========::.:.::===:::::::::=:::::::::::;;::._,~-====--~---===~===;;=., ations resurface aJ)out aiding escape from prison See LANDON on Page B-12 -:-===:=:::::=====--~_:::-__:-:~-_-~---~-_

I I No 'Solution 'Found I

L ndon: Al fromE-1 t1o'l as been raised, and • an elect- ed fficial my job i to bring it to the atter tion of the rcspormble offi- cials." "I d n t tl'.in · l andon 1s the issue, or should be," said one of those offi- Cials, Brian Bilbra\', who is chairman of the Board of Supervisor . "T at s between the man and his board of dire tors 'bray d a d c1 oh on CDI h I m de on ''whether it's cost- df ct1~ e. Either it is or it isn't, and the cl ief .. drninistrative officer ( ' ri H key he guy who will l!ec1 th: t ' H k y said ye terday that if the Departmert of Corrections enforces t o l Lan at the new state pri on here, that would 'con- cern· hun. Supervisor George Bailey said this week, "I t0<:, my copy (of the court opimon) right down t the county counsel's office and :ud, 'Just get me t e scoop.' Believe m we want full a wers before we ct. ' E. Miles ·Harvey, chairman of the board of CDI, said it as unfair to bring up an old unproved allegation made by a convicted felon, and indi- cated be felt opponents to the CDI proposal were behind it. Harvey said Landon "was pre- pared to sign a sta cment under pen- alty of perjury t e never smug- gled anything oat .if Chino and that the allegation made in the (appellate opinion) is completely false." • • • On Oct. 6, 1972, a state prison vehi- cle left the prison at Chino carrying two unarmed guards and inmate MockTrl~ - (Continued from -Page SB) . "The public is fed up. It's hke shuffling the deck tiers on the Titanic while heading toward th e inevitable collision with the iceberg. A regional plan is essen- tial fo,· any plan that's going to work" Although 11e admitted it coul_d cause some temporary economic hardship, Worden suggested im- plementing an immedi9:te 1 ½ 2-year building moratorium ~bl city and county officials can de~se and imple en a new, effective plan; and perhaps limiting the ·number of permits to be issued. "It's not too late," he said. "We have to recognize that we have _to balance industry and commercial uses with residential - to cut down growth and balance what we have." "All the local jurisdictions must work together," Wharton said. "We will all hang together or we most assuredly will hang separa t / ely." / _ developers paying fees.

Mock Trial Fits Developers And Anti-Growth Proponents

Ronald \1t. Beaty, 36, who was to ap- pear at a hearing i t!Je Sao Bernar- dino County 'ourtnouse. Beaty ad erved time in both state and federal prisons for a string of offenses: bad checks, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, at- tempted robbery and kidnapping. He had escaped once and, in fact, the h!'aring he was being escorted to was in conn!'Ct10n ith that escape. A battered Oldsmobile forced the state car off the road; another car pulled up immediately. Four people, at least one of whom was armed, got the shackled Beaty out of the car. then handcuffed the guards and forced them mto the back seat. A gunman later identified as Rob- ert Seabock opened fire with a .38- callber pistol, i ling esus Sanchez, 24, and wounding George J. Fitzger- ald, 36, who pretended to be dead, and survived. The group then fled. Two months later, Beaty was ca;>- tured while driving across the Bay Bridge between Oakland and San Francisco. He first refused to talk to authorities, but eventually made a deal and testified against his res- cuers. One of them, Benton Douglas Burt, 30, had been a cellmate of Beaty who had been released and made his way to the Bay Area, where he became friendly with members of a revolu- tionary group known as Venceremos. Beaty told authorities that his own escape had been planned and carried out by members of Venceremos. He also claimed that he had drawn up plans for his escape while in prJS- on, and that they were smuggled out of Chino by Landon, then beginning

his legal career and involved in a prisoners' rights group in San Diego. Beaty also said Landon once smug- gled a hacksaw blade into Chino by taping it inside a legal brief. • • • With Beaty as the star witness, Burt, his wife Andrea, Seabock and a Palo Alto woman named Jean Hob- son were tried for the murder of San- chez, the attempted murder of Fitzgerald, and the prisoner rescue. The Burts were tried in San Ber- nardino and convicted of second-de- gree murder, assault with a deadly weapon and rescue of a prisoner. Hobson and Seabock were tried in Los Angeles; Hobson was convicted of second-degree murder and Seabock of first-degree murder. Beaty pleaded guilty to murder and was placed in the federal prison system for his own protection. Ac• cording to a former San Bernardino law-enforcement agent who followed the case closely but who would not speak for attribution, Beaty eventu- ally was sent to a minimum-security prison and again escaped. He was captured trying to enter Canada. Of all those prosecuted, only Seabock and Beaty are still in prison. Authorities investigated Landon's alleged role, hut he was not charged. The former San Bernardino agent says the district attorney at the time

decided that "we really didn't have enough" to file charges, since Beaty's testimony could not be corroborated Landon this week said he was not Beaty's attorney at the time, and had met with him at Chino while •·assist- ing him on some civil-rights mat- ters." Landon also denied even know- ing Hobson and Seabock, and said he knew Burt only from his civil-rights work at the prison before Burt was released. At a later trial, Landon said, Beaty changed his story and said that while the attorney smuggled out the let- ters, he did not know what they con- tained and was "totally innocent." But Landon added that Beaty was "a pathological liar." Landon denied smuggling anything out of the prison - or in, including hacksaw blades. He pointed out that he was always physically searched at two points at the prison, and said, "I never even carried a briefcase, just my files." • • • Most of those in some way in- volved with CDI queried this week claimed to have no knowledge of Landon's alleged role in the 1972 prison escape, although the incident was mentioned in a 1981 series of articles about the State Bar discipli- nary system, published by The &n Diego Union.

Landon, 40, who has been a defense attorney here since graduating from the Universitl of San Diego School of Law mi971, as many iiefenders. fve had a lot of dealings with Alex since I came here in 1981," says Sheldon Krantz, dean of USD's law school and a member of the blue- ribbon commission that recommend- ed CDI to the county. "He's a superb lawyer with a good reputation for in- tegrity and commitment." Landon currently is the executive director of Defenders, Inc., which holds the largest contract with the county to handle the cases of poor clients. Well-known m local legal circles, Landon on Thursday night was hon- ored with the E. Stanley Conant award by the hoard of directors of the Defender Program of San Diego Inc., which includes appellate, feder- al and county defense attorneys. The award, in memory of the first direc- tor of the defenders program in San Diego, is given for extraordinary work with indigent defendants. Supervisors tentatively approved CDI last year, after a blue-ribbon commission recommended that the county end the current system of in- digent defense, in which the county Office of Defender Services shares defense responsibilities with private attorneys under contract.

That hodgepodge system was criti- cized by the national legal magazine, American Lawyer, as among the worst in the country. It also was consistently over budg- et. This year, the cost is expected to be $7 million over the $10 million budget. But CDI's proposed budget has grown as well, from $11.9 million in operating costs to $15.9 million, ex- cluding one-time start-up costs of $1.2 million, another .$3 million for continuing cases already under con- tract, and $2.6 million for cases that must be contracted to private attor- neys where conflicts exist. The latest proposal calls for a CDI staff of 305, including 187 attorneys, 39 investigators and 15 social work- ers. Landon's salary would be equal to that of District Attorney Edwin Miller, about $90,000, and that of his chief assistant, Glenn Warren, would he about the same as the $85,000 paid Miller's top assistant, Dick Neely. CDI originally was to have started in July, but supervisors voted Tues- day to delay it. With questions about mounting costs and who will control the organization once it gets under way, supervisors agreed to continue the present system of contracting with attorneys for indigent defense for another year.

make th,• dee, iomi. Local govern ment is advoc ting planned chaos, and it creates more problem tha~ it olve _ ,on we'll have to wait in line for housing.'' Although he ls the govern- ment's role is to ensure mfrastr~c- ture I in place before construction begin. , ho admits being a pro~o- n nt of Proposition 13 and feels 10 • creu d taxation is unjustified. Ei t community members, most which ar active in some aren of planning m the area, ex- pres widely-varied opinions_ on growth limitations and centrahzed planning that ranged from "ab O· lutely di. estrous," to "totally nee- " lll!Sa · K Kilk nny, ~ounR I for the Construction Indu. try Federation, aid strict growth limitat10ns would create increa ed housing cost , competitic:m among dev_el• o~rs, lower tax revenues and Job lo eo. "We've seen this happen in San Diego in the last 15 years any• way," Kilkenny said. "We've b •come the Jeu 8 t affordable hous• ing market in the n~tion." two-year bwldmg morator• ium were placed throughout the region, Kilkenny anticipate a county-wide unemployment rate of about 14 percent due to the displacement of 52,000 workers - both in construction and related fields. . "That is a rect!~sion - there w1ll be lower wages and lower stan- dards of living," he said, adding that the middle-dass service secto_r jobs would be ar_actically elimi- nated, creating a c1hzenry compos- ed of those Jiving below the poverty level and an effluent upper-class. "Everyone will suffer y•ith that kind of scenano," he said. Killfonny added that the city's current plan is reason bly well des 1gned, but its failure hes with the lack of implementation. If 8

u itonum "But public opinion nd s mdicute there I u lot of op tor ptd growth," h 1 u lot of nnger and r

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dd d. ''Th re

ntment

nbout th1

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sp1 lls und ov rcrowdm~: " Accordmg to th growth-limita• t n propon nls, problem, in the '11n ltego region have reached the en slug • and cir ttc me' ures ar n ed d or citizens here will face "d v11st11t111g l•flects." Richard Wharton, U D law pro- fes ·or, marnta,necl duri.ng the 'tri I' that cities within th San Diego ar a need a n•gional pl n - not a variety of individual city plans currently und r way in many San Diego County com umties. " II th<' local government should adopt coordinated plan to limit growth,' h 111d. "We are eing d1mimsh,ng air and water quality - this will re. ult in the early ex• tmction of th quality of life as we know it' Lynn Benn, a "witne. s" in the trial who calls her. lf a moderate, said she h, seen in her position as a county communit planning committee chairwoman growth• related prob! ms growm faster than th solut1011$ can be devised to comb·,tthem . "W re in n state of crisis," she said "Our services are dimini hmg, raw sewage is spilling mto our water, the air quality is worsening - our whole quality of hfi 1s al risk" According to B nn, Pump Sta- tion 64 ha spilled 60 times, the w t rs ofT M1sluon Bay Park are clo •d 24 percent of the year due to contam1n t d w11ter the waste- water tr atment plant ofT Point Loma i 40 percent over-capacity, and San Diego 1s the fifth smog• g,e:st city In the nation - all growth induc d problems. Hugh J:, nedm n, profes or of law at USO, agree that although the growth rat,· h r is high and pro- b! m do ex1st, communities throu hout the ,rea must act thoughtfully and cnrfully before making dr tic d c1 ions "We have two choices," he said. "W can ith r l m the door on growth und tagn 1te, or we can pl n for the growth intelligently." l!'red Schnaub It, form r S11n D1~ '" cour1cilm n, cl.timed the not growth but who is r1t too many varied de 1sw1 mnde, and th pl11nn1ng comm ion do n't h v tho comp tency to mak them," he aid "Th11 free., mark t hould

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-, JSD law group credited ·ror cut in PacBell rates By C~~rlesm s of the CPIL and professor of law, Staff \\riter "investing a lot of time and effort. I A group of law students and their think we were able to show that in . professor at the Uni~ San some areas, economically, Pacific Di~o ha_ve been credited with saving Bell really operates at a primitive Ca ifornia telephone users up to $300 level, and had made some basic er- million. rors that were not in the ratepayers' The USO group - organized as the interest." Center for Public Interest Law - As a result, the PUC last week succeeded in convincing the state awarded CPIL $58,978 for what it Public Utilities Commission that Pa- termed significant contributions to cific R l's proposed income from its the state's decisions involving Pac- customers should be cut by that Bell's customer rates. The money amount.

Escondido, CA (San Diego Co.) Times Advocate (Cir. D. 32,685) (Cir. S. 34,568)

"The one major .,uccess is the pay-as-you-grow philosophy," he said. "But failure is in implemen· talion _ developer fees are paid, they're just not transferred into making enough facilities. They (growth-limitation proponents) are angry with the wrong people. . •·San Diego is going to grow into 8 world-class city," he continued. "We're not going to be like Santa Barbara where people are newly- . wed or nearly dead - we have to better than that." Although many panelists agreed current planning methods need to be more consistent, they didn't all agree with Dwight Worden's pro- posed gro....1.h limitation plan. . The former city attorney with the City of Del Mar said the cur• rent plan has too modest goals and city officals have made too many amendments and exceptions to it, which have re;;ulted in the pro- blems the area now has. "It's an accomodation plan - a pay-as-you-grow plan," he said. "But the real problems are the ex• isting ones that can't be ol ved by

MAY 181987

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will be paid by PacBell in compli- .ance with a federal law that allow:, such awards to outside intervenors or customers. The PUC said CPIL's arguments were unique and did not duplicate those i;nade by its own staff of ana- lysts or those made by other inter- venors. Asked for a response, Pa<;Bell said

In two lengthy rate case proceed- ings before the PUC, the local group filed legal briefs and delivered oral arguments in opposition to PacBell's position on capital recovery, fixed cost characteristics, declining use of plants, inflation forecasting and re- covery of advertising expenses. "We made 40 trips to San Francis- co," said Robert Fellmetb, director

r'f 18 1987

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I us~.:£,f !ell i~,!~~!e~~~.~,. ~!! ft would have no comment on the award or the commission's decisions. The PUC also awarded $38,o47 to Toward Utility Rate Normalization, a consumer research group, that ar- gued in opposition to positions taken by Arn ri an Telephone and Tele- graph on its Caltfornia rates before the PUC. mining the proper amount of AT&T income, and was successful in argu- ing that directory assistance charges should not be increased from 35 cents to 60 cents. TURN also succeeded in proving to the PUC's satisfaction that AT&T did not present evidence to support its contention that competition was h

Million-dollar smile - Son Tran, a student at,the _University of San Diego won $1 million in the state lottery s Big Spin.