DA TO APPEAL PRATT RETRIAL; NO NEW EVIDENCE TO PROVE FRAME-UP, GARCETTI SAYS.

Byline: Janet Gilmore Daily News Staff Writer

District Attorney Gil Garcetti announced Friday that he will appeal a court ruling ordering a new trial for Elmer ``Geronimo'' Pratt, the former Black Panther leader imprisoned for a 1968 murder in Santa Monica.

Garcetti left open the possibility that Pratt, who has served 27 years in prison, could be released next week, saying he will not oppose setting of bail. He said no decision has been made on a retrial if Pratt prevails on the appeal.

The district attorney insisted there is no new evidence to support Pratt's claim that he was a victim of a political frame-up.

``We stand behind the conviction and will appeal,'' Garcetti said.

The decision comes one week after an Orange County Superior Court judge ordered a new trial and issued a stinging, 14-page ruling that prosecutors failed to disclose crucial evidence that may have resulted in a different verdict.

That evidence included information that a key witness, Julius Butler, was a longtime government informant who may have falsely identify Pratt to curry favor with police and prosecutors.

Defense attorneys have long suggested that political pressures and efforts to break up the Black Panther Party led to Pratt's arrest and conviction.

Defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. said Friday that Garcetti had a chance to right the wrongs of a prior administration but instead has apparently succumbed to internal office pressures and become part of the problem.

``He had a chance to show some stature and some courage, and he opted not to do it,'' Cochran said. ``He failed to face up to the facts of this case.''

Garcetti told reporters that the prosecutors on the Pratt case, from the trial attorneys to those working on the appeal, ``acted appropriately and ethically.''

Garcetti said it was his office that gave defense attorneys and a judge evidence that ultimately led to the new-trial order. Defense attorneys contend the office stonewalled them for years and turned over important evidence only after defense attorneys won favorable court rulings.

Cochran and Julie Drous, another Pratt attorney, expressed amazement that Garcetti would appeal the strongly worded ruling from the Orange County judge.

``This is so absurd,'' Drous said. ``It's such the wrong thing to do it's unbelievable. This is a total waste of everyone's time and money.''

And if the case goes to trial, she said, weaknesses in Butler's credibility will be disclosed to jurors as well as new information that the victim's husband once identified a different man as the shooter before he picked Butler.

Garcetti acknowledged that retrying the case would be hard.

``Any case that is as old as this case, plus the fact that most people, and certainly a jury, would know that this individual has spent nearly 27 years in prison, makes a retrial exceedingly difficult,'' he said. ``But we're not there yet.

``We are simply making a decision that we believe that the overall record in this case is still of such convincing force - even absent Mr. Butler's testimony - that a verdict of 12 jurors should in fact stand.''

Garcetti said his office will not oppose a defense request Tuesday that Pratt be allowed out on bail.

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Photo

PHOTO Elmer ``Geronimo'' Pratt

Has served 27 years in prison