Burden of Kraft Case Prompts D.A. to Seek Bigger Staff

The Randy Kraft serial murder case has become such a massive task for Orange County prosecutors that they have asked the Board of Supervisors for seven new positions to keep pace with the rest of the office workload.

Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks revealed in his request this week that prosecutors have “reliably estimated” that the defense costs in the Kraft case--paid by the county--have run to $2 million so far and that the defense has 10 paid staff, including four lawyers.

The defense has refused to discuss its expenses, and all financial documents on Kraft defense costs have been sealed by court order. Thomas McDonald, one of Kraft’s attorneys, called the district attorney’s estimate of the defense’s resources “erroneous.”

Kraft, 41, a computer consultant from Long Beach, may be accused of more murders than anyone in California history. He is charged with 16 murders in Orange County, but prosecutors have filed court papers accusing him of 22 more murders and will introduce those papers if the trial reaches a death penalty phase, making it 38 altogether. All 38 victims were young men, and many of them were either emasculated or sexually assaulted.

Actually, the district attorney’s office contends that Kraft is linked to 64 murders, and it listed that number in papers sent to the Board of Supervisors. But the defense is expected to vehemently oppose any attempt to introduce before a jury any more than the first 38.

Kraft’s lawyers say that preparing a defense against the 38 counts makes it impossible for them to be ready by the scheduled trial date, June 30. chief deputy district attorney McDonald did not say what new date the defense wants.

A hearing in the case has been scheduled for April 25 before Presiding Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey, and the issue of the trial date might be raised then. But McDonald said that hearing might end up being devoted primarily to discovery motions.

When the trial date issue does come up, prosecutors plan to argue against any postponement. “They (defense lawyers) can’t have it both ways,” said Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. James Enright. “If it turns out they have all these resources, they should be ready. They can’t be charging the county for all this time and then say they aren’t ready.”

McDonald countered, however, by saying that the defense is still seeking documents from the prosecution and that this will require a trial delay.

One major issue to be settled is a defense motion expected soon on splitting the case into two or more trials. Prosecutors want one trial. Defense lawyers plan to ask for a severance but have not decided how many trials to ask for.

Regarding the defense costs, Enright said the district attorney’s office is not criticizing the defense for the money it has spent. But prosecutors used the figure $2 million to show the supervisors that the defense’s resources require considerable manpower response from prosecutors.

“Every time the defense files a motion before the judge, we must answer in some way,” Enright said. “The case is just so exhaustive we have to have more help.”

In a document prepared for the supervisors, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, prosecutors report that the Kraft case has involved interviews with more than 700 witnesses, the processing of more than 100,000 pages of investigative documentation, the organizing of more than 250 exhibits and investigation of murders covering a 12-year period. They add that the Kraft case could go on for another two years or more.

The district attorney’s office now has seven people working full time on the Kraft case: two lawyers, two investigators, an investigative assistant and two clerks.

Augment Staff

The new staff members would not work on the Kraft case but would handle other prosecution matters and augment the staff that has devoted so much manpower to the Kraft prosecution, Enright said. Hicks is also asking the supervisors for one more lawyer because of the recent expansion of Harbor Municipal Court.

The supervisors are scheduled to look at the district attorney’s request next Tuesday.

McDonald was not pleased to learn of the prosecutors’ projections to the supervisors about what the defense’s resources are. He would not elaborate, except to say there are only three Kraft attorneys, not four.

While prosecution sources say their $2-million figure is only a guess, they also insist it is accurate, based on their knowledge of the case.

The defense lawyers must make their requests for funds to Superior Court Judge Luis A. Cardenas, who has ordered that the finances be kept secret both from the public and the district attorney’s office. Cardenas ordered the documents sealed for fear that news about the Kraft defense costs might prejudice potential jurors.

Cardenas said it would be a violation of his own order to say how much the defense costs have been so far, but he did say that “it’s going to be very expensive. We’re talking about a case that is unprecedented in this county.”

Cardenas added that he has not approved any defense requests that were not in the best interest of providing Kraft a fair trial. Some of the expenses, he said, ended up saving the government money. For example, the defense team requested a computer system to help it keep track of all the files on Kraft. Cardenas said he was skeptical at first but finally realized that the computer might save hiring two more people to do the same amount of work.

Decision Expected Soon

The 4th District Court of Appeal is expected to decide soon whether to order Cardenas to release the records of defense finances. The ruling will come in a case resulting from a lawsuit seeking the information, filed by the Orange County Register.

Kraft was arrested May 14, 1984, on Interstate 5 in Mission Viejo after two CHP officers noticed his car being driven erratically. A Marine, Terry Lee Gambrel of Crothersville, Ind., was found either dead or dying in the front passenger seat of Kraft’s car. The officers said later that he was dead, and he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

After examining evidence in Kraft’s car, Orange County authorities reopened several old cases in which no suspects had been arrested, and within a year Kraft was charged with 16 murders.