LOS ANGELES - Attorneys for a prosecutor who alleges he was demoted from a prestigious position for speaking out against current District Attorney George Gascón’s sentencing directives say in new court papers that a judge should allow a deposition by former District Attorney Steve Cooley to proceed.

Lawyers for Los Angeles County want to block Cooley’s pending deposition, arguing in their court papers that there is “no legitimate reason” for Deputy District Attorney John Lewin’s lawyers to depose him.

“This relief is especially important given that the underlying deposition subpoena seeks information that is not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence,” the county lawyers argue.

But in court papers filed Wednesday with Judge Steve Cochran in advance of a scheduled Nov. 13 hearing, Lewin’s attorneys argue Cooley can testify first-hand about his knowledge of the office’s transfer procedures and put the plaintiff’s transfer in context.

“Mr. Cooley’s testimony is further relevant because he was previously plaintiff’s supervisor at the ... District Attorney’s office and has maintained a longstanding relationship with plaintiff,” Lewin’s lawyers further state in their pleadings.

The county can move to exclude before trial any portions of Cooley’s deposition testimony believed to be irrelevant, the Lewin attorneys state in their court papers.

In his suit brought in February 2023, Lewin alleges he was retaliated against from 2020 to 2022 by Gascón but Cooley, district attorney from 2000 to 2012, the county attorneys state in their pleadings.

Lewin contends he was wrongfully transferred from his high-profile position in the Cold Case Unit of the Major Crimes Division to a job handling daily cases before a judge at the Inglewood courthouse, all because of his criticisms of Gascón’s sentencing directives implemented after Gascón took office in December 2020.

Although as recently as late May attorneys for Gascón said in an email they were willing to discuss a date for their client’s deposition, but no definitive availability was offered despite ongoing requests dating back more than a year, according to Lewin’s attorneys’ court papers.

“George Gascón should be subjected to deposition because of his direct personal factual information regarding the implementation of the special directives, plaintiff’s complaints of these illegal policies and Gascón’s specific role in the retaliatory transfer of plaintiff, all of which are material to this action, exclusive to George Gascón and not available from any other source,” Lewin’s attorneys argue in their court papers.

The evidence supports the notion that Gascón had direct knowledge of Lewin’s complaints, was on notice of the plaintiff’s concern of a retaliatory transfer and was involved in the decision to relegate him to a calendar deputy position, the Lewin lawyers further state in their pleadings.

In 2021 Lewin was awarded that year’s Ken Lamb Distinguished Achievement Award for his 27 years of service in the District Attorney’s Office, but he refused the office’s request to appear in a photo with Gascón because he worried doing so would be “construed as an endorsement of Gascón” Lewin’s attorneys state in their court papers.

Lewin was the lead prosecutor in the trial of Robert Durst, a New York real estate heir who was serving life in prison without parole, who died in January 2022 at age 78 of natural causes. Durst was convicted in September 2021 of first-degree murder for the December 2000 shooting death of Susan Berman.