An assistant district attorney and top ethics official for Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón has continued to draw her $320,000 annual salary after being ordered to stand trial on multiple felony counts for accessing confidential data without permission.
Los Angeles Ethics and Integrity Assistant District Attorney Diana Teran is still on the public payroll and has been paid more than $60,000 in pay and “flex earnings” since state Attorney General Rob Bonta filed charges against her. Teran allegedly accessed confidential records of police officers during her previous work as an advisor to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) disclosed Teran’s salary status based on a public records request that was filed by a former deputy district attorney, Kathleen Cady.
“She absolutely should have been suspended upon being charged,” Michele Hanisee, the ADDA president, told the Southern California Record.
The normal practice for an employee in the Sheriff’s Department facing such charges would have been a suspension without pay, according to Hanisee.
Teran’s law license remains active, according to her status on the State Bar of California’s website. But the State Bar’s listing also includes a “Consumer Alert” stating that the attorney has been charged with a felony in Los Angeles Superior Court. The filing of criminal charges in itself, however, does not represent a finding of guilt or professional misconduct since attorneys are presumed innocent pending a court decision, according to the State Bar.
The filing of charges against Teran comes amid Gascón’s re-election campaign that will culminate in this November’s election. The ADDA has endorsed Gascón’s opponent, Nathan Hochman.
The filing of charges against his office’s top ethics official raises questions about the way the district attorney runs his office, Hanisee said.
“It reflects negatively on his judgment overall,” she said. “Remember, he didn’t just hire her, he appointed her as his ethics and integrity advisor at a time when he certainly knew or should have known she was under investigation for these very charges.”
Hanisee also accused Gascón of violations of the state’s public records law.
“We've already filed a lawsuit against the D.A.’s Office for violations for public records act for their complete disregard in the past for public records requests we’ve made,” she said. “... They refused to provide the information to us on our public information request (about Teran’s employment status) but then later did provide that information to Ms. Kady.”
The Superior Court judge overseeing Teran’s case, Sam Ohta, recently reduced the number of felony charges against her to six in a 28-page opinion.
In February, the ADDA filed a lawsuit against the district attorney, arguing that he engaged in a systematic failure to comply with provisions of the California Public Records Act. This was either due to Gascón’s contempt for his own employees or animus toward the union, according to Hanisee.
“Teran … has received the same lenient treatment as others in his inner circle,” she said in a recent opinion article. “He has further eroded any pretense of accountability by refusing to comply with the Public Records Act, which is the state version of the Freedom of Information Act.”
A spokeswoman for the D.A.’s Office declined to comment, saying that the office does not discuss pending litigation or personnel matters.