Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer denied in court testimony this week that he ever retaliated against a former high-level prosecutor over her efforts to protect lower-level colleagues who had suffered serial sexual harassment by another supervisor who was at one time a close friend of Spitzer’s.
Former Senior Assistant District Attorney Tracy Miller, in a lawsuit against the county of Orange, has accused Spitzer — along with Shawn Nelson, Spitzer’s former top deputy who has since become an Orange County Superior Court judge — of forcing Miller out of her job while trying to protect then-DA supervisor Gary Logalbo, who decades prior had been the best man at Spitzer’s wedding.
Spitzer, during at-times emotional testimony in a San Diego courtroom this week, denied ever mistreating Miller or retaliating against her. The DA acknowledged that there were times when Miller may have felt disrespected, explaining that “we have a rough and tumble job.”
“It is not always heated,” Spitzer said of the regular meetings involving his top staff. “But it can get heated.”
Miller, over nearly 25 years at the OC DA’s office during the tenure of former DA Tony Rackauckas, rose to the upper echelons of the department. When Spitzer unseated Rackauckas in 2018, Miller was the highest-ranking woman in the DA’s office.
In her lawsuit, Miller alleges that Spitzer and Nelson, beginning in 2019, aimed “gender-based slurs” at her, disrespected and undermined her in front of lower-level prosecutors and threatened to dismantle an anti-gang program she created.
Spitzer described taking over the DA’s office in 2018 in the midst of a federal investigation into the systematic misuse of jailhouse informants, which had resulted in prosecutors being removed from a high-profile capital murder case. Spitzer said he chose to keep the office’s top leadership team — including Miller — intact after they all agreed with his goal of “righting the ship.”
Asked why he chose to bring on Shawn Nelson — someone he had routinely sparred with when they were both on the Orange County Board of Supervisors — as his second in command at the DA’s office, Spitzer appeared to be briefly overcome with emotion.
“Because he is the smartest person I know,” Spitzer said before pausing to wipe his eyes with a tissue. “I picked him because I was going into battle in the lion’s den in an office that had cheated to get convictions and i needed someone on my side who was a warrior.”
Spitzer described meeting Logalbo when he was a brand new prosecutor and Logalbo — then a police officer — was testifying about a woman who had lied to police about letting her dog off its leash. The two lived together for a time at a condo Spitzer owned in Brea, the DA testified, and Logalbo was Spitzer’s best man at his wedding. But Spitzer said the two of them saw much less of each other as his political career took off.
“I wouldn’t say we grew apart,” Spitzer said. “We weren’t estranged. But we didn’t socialize.”
Spitzer, on the advice of county HR officials, placed Logalbo on suspension soon after learning of the allegations he was facing. Logalbo quickly resigned from the office. A county investigator found that Logalbo sexually harassed four female attorneys under his supervision. He died in 2021.
During his testimony, Spitzer acknowledged that one of the accusers — as well as her supervisor — expressed concern about Spitzer’s potential role in Logalbo’s investigation and the prospect that their jobs could be in jeopardy. But he denied retaliating against anyone and said he turned complete control of the investigation over to the county’s HR department.
Spitzer acknowledged his frustrations with Miller, admitting that at one leadership meeting he had told her to “go ahead and take your little notes” when she appeared to be memorializing everything that was being said.
Miller, in her lawsuit, alleges that Spitzer had an improper phone conversation with the father of one of the victims of a man tied to the criminal case against Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, an alleged mass shooter. The father, in that call with Spitzer, mentioned an unrelated criminal case he was facing in which he was already represented by an attorney.
Spitzer again appeared to fight back emotions on the stand when he described the father expressing his anguish at losing his son.
“I’m so sorry, this is really painful,” Spitzer said. “He wanted me to get justice.”
Miller alleged that Spitzer, during an interview with a DA investigator, left out details regarding his phone conversation with the father. Spitzer said he was frustrated that Miller didn’t just come to him and ask him to do a follow-up interview.
Spitzer also acknowledged voicing his displeasure with Miller when he felt a prosecutor under her supervision wasn’t aggressively pursuing charges related to a major oil spill off of Huntington Beach.
“Did you ever tell Ms. Miller she wasn’t doing a good job in her role?” defense attorney Tracey Kennedy asked.
“We probably had some frank discussions from time to time, yes,” Spitzer said.
During his testimony, Spitzer seemed to back away from previous claims that the timing of Miller’s allegations were “politically motivated,” since they first came to light weeks before the filing deadline for his 2022 re-election campaign. But, under questioning by Miller’s attorney, Spitzer said he did believe that at the time there were “elements in my office” who were out to do him harm.
Testimony in the trial is expected to continue for several weeks. Spitzer is expected to finish his testimony on Thursday. The case is being heard in San Diego County since Nelson and other potential witnesses have since become Orange County Superior Court judges.