Deputy’s Interview Subject of Dispute

Sheriff’s deputies and other police officers deserve the same constitutional rights as criminals, say law enforcement union officials concerned by Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury’s attempt to view a deputy’s internal affairs file.

Bradbury has asked for a court order to obtain a confidential Sheriff’s Department file on the Jan. 26 shooting death of an Oxnard man by an off-duty deputy.

Prosecutors want to review statements made by Senior Deputy Steven Lengyel to internal affairs investigators soon after he shot 26-year-old Jack Sexton, who allegedly entered the Port Hueneme home of Lengyel’s elderly neighbor on Super Bowl Sunday.

District attorney investigators reached a dead end in their investigation, according to sources, because Lengyel--on the advice of his attorney--refused to talk to them.

So Bradbury asked Sheriff Larry Carpenter to turn over the internal affairs file--specifically the transcripts of an interview Lengyel gave investigators after the shooting.

Although Bradbury has obtained such files in other cases without a court order, Carpenter said he decided not to turn over the file without a court order.

“There is some case law for how these records can be used,” said Capt. Mark Ball, a department spokesman.

A 1987 state Court of Appeals case involving a San Jose Police Department sergeant accused of sexual assault is often cited as precedent, officials said.

In that case, appeals court judges ruled that “coerced statements” or statements that the officer was forced to give to internal affairs investigators or risk losing his job, could not be used against him in a separate criminal case.

Carpenter wanted a judge to set out the specific guidelines for how the information in Sexton’s file could be used, Ball said.

Unlike suspects in criminal cases who do not have to talk to investigators, police officers and sheriff’s deputies are compelled to speak with investigators for internal affairs, union officials say. If not, they risk charges of insubordination leading to censure or their termination, said Sgt. Dave Williams, president of the Ventura County Deputy Sheriff’s Assn.

“Those are coerced statements,” Williams said. In an effort to afford deputies their constitutional protection against self-incrimination, state law says that any statements they make to internal affairs investigators cannot be used against them in court, Williams said.

“Coerced statements cannot be used in a criminal court so the question is really why does the district attorney want it,” he said.

If Bradbury decides to file charges against Sexton after reviewing his file, prosecutors would be hard-pressed to show that their decision was not influenced by the information in the file, Williams said.

“They would end up having to prove that it didn’t affect their decision and that would be nearly impossible,” he said.

Officials from the district attorney’s office refused comment Wednesday on the Lengyel case.

But Williams said Bradbury discussed his reasons for the request with association officials last week.

“He said he just wants to get to the truth,” Williams said.

Lengyel actually does not oppose turning over the file because he does not feel that he said anything incriminating, Williams said.

A day after his interview with internal affairs investigators, Lengyel was allowed to return to work.

“If they had found something wrong they wouldn’t have let him go back,” Williams said.

Defense attorney William Hadden, whose Santa Monica firm would represent Lengyel if he was charged with a crime, said the district attorney’s request is puzzling.

“On the one hand you say, ‘Go ahead and have it, because you’re screwing up your chances to file criminally.’ On the other hand, do you want to expose your client to that?” Hadden said. “It gives prosecutors the unique advantage of looking into the mind of the defendant.”

The question of how the information is going to be used is of the most concern, he said.

Oxnard police union representative Sgt. Tom Chronister said Bradbury’s move was troubling for all officers.

“You don’t want to give you your rights just because you’re a police officer,” Chronister said.