A LIFE OF ITS OWN; TAXPAYERS GETTING STUNG IN FLAP OVER DEPUTY DA'S '94 SPEEDING TICKET.

Byline: Janet Gilmore Daily News Staff Writer

Leave it to lawyers to turn two speeding tickets into a flap that is occupying two courtrooms and costing taxpayers thousands of dollars.

It all began back in 1994 when police say they clocked Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Kevin Greber driving 63 mph in a 40-mph zone.

To hear the officer tell it, Greber tried to talk his way out of the $160 ticket, then threatened to make life difficult for other officers he works with in court.

When another officer accused Greber of a similar incident in 1996, the District Attorney's Office suspended him for five days.

Since then, the case has taken on a lengthy and costly life of its own.

Hearings triggered by the speeding tickets are pending both in Los Angeles Superior Court and before the Civil Service Commission, where Greber is denying wrongdoing and challenging the suspension.

``It has evolved and bloomed into this monster,'' Greber conceded.

Prosecutors already have spent more than $500 on the initial investigation into Greber; the County Counsel's Office has logged undetermined time and expense; and the District Attorney's Office hired a private $119-an-hour law firm to assist with new legal issues that have cropped up.

Greber insists the problem is not the result of speeding tickets, but rather District Attorney Gil Garcetti punishing him for publicly criticizing him in 1995 for handing out bonuses to O.J. Simpson prosecutors.

Not so, said Steve Sowders, the prosecutor who headed the investigation into Greber's conduct. Sowders said the case against Greber centers on whether he tried to use his position with the District Attorney's Office to avoid speeding tickets.

``What he said to the police officers was outrageous,'' said Sowders.

According to investigation records, Greber told both officers that if one of their colleagues fails to show up to testify in court on a routine case, he would convince the judge to issue a bench warrant - to drag the officer into court.

Greber denies that and argued, hypothetically, that even if that occurred his discipline was late, excessive and designed to send a chilling message to others about publicly criticizing their boss during election season.

Regardless, Sowders agrees that the case has grown far too complicated.

When Greber turned to fellow prosecutor Dinko Bozanich to assist in his appeal of the discipline, the District Attorney's Office took Bozanich to court, saying he is not allowed to practice law outside his job as a prosecutor.

So Bozanich the prosecutor hired an attorney to represent himself.

Bozanich and Greber said the lawsuit is designed to wear down Greber and delay any Civil Service Commission hearing in which claims of political retaliation might he aired.

``They continue to come up with these things,'' Bozanich said of Garcetti's administration. ``But I'm not going to back off. I feel I've got right on my side.''