Monday, December 11, 2009
Page 3
City Attorney’s Office May Recuse Self in Karabian Case
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office is expected to recuse itself from reviewing the potential case against Democratic Assemblyman Walter Karabian due to a conflict of interest, a district attorney spokesperson said yesterday.
Karabian, 71, a local attorney and former deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, is the father of Deputy City Attorney Benjamin Karabian.
Should the City Attorney’s Office recuse itself, the spokesperson said the District Attorney’s Office will review the matter for misdemeanor consideration.
The District Attorney’s Office had declined to file felony charges against the elder Karbian stemming from his alleged attempt to run over a female parking attendant before the USC football game Saturday at the Coliseum.
Based upon the victim’s injuries, which were minor, the spokesperson said a determination was made that the case did not rise to the level of a felony.
Karabian was released on $30,000 bail Saturday evening, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department records.
Chief Henry Fimbres of the Exposition Park Police, the arresting agency, said the attendant was taken to the hospital by paramedics, but he did not know the extent of her injuries. Witnesses indicated that it was a low-speed accident, he said.
Karabian attended USC for both his undergraduate and legal education and in 1966 was elected to the state Assembly from a Monterey Park district at the age of 28.
He became the youngest majority leader in the Assembly’s history in 1971 at the age of 33 and served a total of four terms.
After a failed bid to become secretary of state in 1974, Karabian left politics and opened the law firm of Karns & Karabian with USC classmate John H. Karns in Monterey Park.
Neither attorney returned phone calls yesterday.
Copyright 2009, Metropolitan News Company