GARCETTI CALLED SOFT ON MURDERER WITH CLOUT PROSECUTOR FUMES AT DA'S STAND ON PAROLE DA UNDER FIRE FOR STAND ON PAROLE FOR MURDERER.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer

A celebrated 15-year-old Calabasas murder case has sparked a rift in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office with veteran prosecutors questioning Wednesday why District Attorney Gil Garcetti would support releasing the prisoner on parole.

The criticism of Garcetti surfaced after a hearing in Van Nuys Superior Court on Wednesday on the possible parole of Robert M. Rosenkrantz of Calabasas, who at 18 shot schoolmate Steven Redman 10 times with an Uzi semiautomatic over being exposed among friends as a homosexual.

Only three times in the past seven years has Garcetti's office not opposed parole of a murderer, a spokesman for the office said.

Garcetti has stood by his decision, made without consulting the trial prosecutor and after a private meeting with Rosenkrantz's former attorney, over the objections of the state Board of Prison Terms and Gov. Gray Davis.

``This appears to be another one of those incidents where people who have access to Garcetti are getting something special,'' said Deputy District Attorney Albert MacKenzie, who recently ended a term as president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, a group critical of Garcetti.

``People who have money and influence seem to be getting good deals that others are not, and that appalls me.''

Deputy District Attorney Sterling Norris said it is highly unusual for the office to take a position that, in effect, supports parole in a murder case.

``I've never heard that we have supported the release of a legitimately convicted murderer from prison,'' said Norris, a 32-year veteran of the office who ran unsuccessfully against Garcetti in 1992 and 1996. ``If we don't oppose it, we favor it.''

In an interview, Garcetti denied being influenced by anyone other than Head Deputy District Attorney Diane Vezzani, a parole hearing specialist who he said made the initial decision not to oppose Rosenkrantz's parole.

``(Vezzani)'s the one who made the decision without my input,'' Garcetti said Wednesday. ``I gave her the decision authority, and I have not seen an abuse of that authority by her.''

Vezzani disputed that account, saying she merely suggested about four years ago that Rosenkrantz would likely be eligible for parole at some point, but not without serving more prison time.

She said Garcetti made his decision on his own after meeting privately with Rosenkrantz's then-attorney Alan V. Friedman, a meeting Vezzani said she and trial attorney Deputy District Attorney Larry Diamond were not allowed to attend.

``I was frozen out,'' Vezzani said. ``His decision was totally independent of my decision. I had no input into that decision and neither did Larry Diamond.''

Friedman declined to comment Wednesday on the purpose of his meeting with Garcetti or the facts of the case.

Garcetti said he and several of his aides and prosecutors met with Friedman to consider his request for a stronger backing of parole. ``It didn't move me then that we should be in favor of parole,'' Garcetti said. ``They wanted me to change that position and come out in favor of it, but I said no.''

Garcetti said he deferred instead to Vezzani's earlier decision not to oppose parole.

``People contacted my office asking me if I would please change that position to be in favor of it. I got all the facts and said no, I'm not going to change that.''

Vezzani said she read Garcetti's statement into the record at a subsequent parole hearing but has since refused to handle the Rosenkrantz case because she learned that Diamond had not been consulted on the decision.

Diamond said he opposes any granting of parole. ``The crime was so serious that at this time parole would not be appropriate,'' Diamond said.

Rosenkrantz, the son of prominent Calabasas attorney Herbert Rosenkrantz, murdered a high school classmate in June 1985 for exposing him as a homosexual on graduation night. Redman was a friend of Rosenkrantz's younger brother.

A jury found Rosenkrantz guilty of second-degree murder, and he has served 15 years of a sentence of 17 years to life. Four prior bids for parole have been denied by prison officials, said Rosenkrantz's attorney, Rowan Klein.

Frustrated that the prison board was considering the facts of the crime and not the taunts and other factors that led up to it, Klein filed a motion to have the trial judge order the prison board to find Rosenkrantz eligible for parole.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge James Albracht recused himself since he had written letters to the parole board urging parole of Rosenkrantz, Klein said. The case was transferred to Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Kathryne Stoltz, who last April determined that Rosenkrantz was eligible for parole, Klein said.

She later ordered prison officials to set a parole date, which they did reluctantly: Jan. 1, 2001. The state Attorney General's Office appealed Stoltz's order, and the appeal is still pending.

Gov. Gray Davis intervened in December, blocking parole for Rosenkrantz. Davis has vowed not to release any convicted murderers while he is in office.

On Wednesday, Klein went before Stoltz to ask her to enforce the release order, which he said is still in effect. Stoltz said she must now reconsider her ruling in light of the governor's action.

``Maybe I was wrong in making that order,'' Stoltz said. ``There's another level of bureaucracy that the court ignored, that the court did not know about.''

Stoltz said she is now inclined to scale back her ruling to an order for Rosenkrantz to get a new parole board hearing. She is expected to finalize her decision Wednesday.

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Photo: (color) ROSENKRANTZ