SAN DIEGO CRIMINAL DEFENSE: SECRET TAPES MADE BY COP REVEALED TO DEFENSE
Secret tapes shared with defense lawyers
By Michael BurgeUnion-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. October 23, 2009
OCEANSIDE — The District Attorney's Office is sharing with defense attorneys secret recordings of suspects' police interviews so they can weigh whether their clients' cases were compromised.
District Attorney spokesman Paul Levikow said yesterday that prosecutors have identified 37 cases in which Oceanside police Officer Damon Smith recorded interviews with suspects but didn't disclose their existence to prosecutors or defense lawyers.
Levikow said the recordings were made between April 2003 and May 2006, and between November 2008 and May 2009, when they came to light.
“The recordings have been or are being made available to the defense attorneys in those cases,” Levikow said. “They can decide how they can proceed.” He said it was unclear why there was a three-year gap between the recordings.
Bill Trainor, an assistant supervisor for the county Public Defender in North County, said he hadn't heard the tapes were being shared. “Neither (North County branch Supervisor) Larry Beyersdorf nor myself have been notified in either an official or unofficial capacity,” Trainor said. “I'm disquieted by this information.”
Trainor said he recently spoke with Summer Stephan, operations chief for the District Attorney's North County branch, “and she said there's an investigation in the downtown DA's office” into Smith's activities.”
Levikow said he had no comment on whether such an investigation was under way.
Other defense attorneys contacted said they had not yet heard from the district attorney whether cases of theirs were affected.
A spokesman for Oceanside police declined to say whether Smith was disciplined. Sgt. Kelan Poorman said such information is prevented from disclosure by the Peace Officer's Bill of Rights.
