SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco attorney and former Solano County prosecutor Andrew Michael Ganz faces possible stayed suspension and probation following a recently announced California State Bar Court recommendation over alleged prosecutorial misconduct in a homicide case.
Ganz admitted to the court that he made mistakes while prosecuting a the case against Michael Daniels earlier this decade, according to the 49-page decision issued Oct. 29 by the state bar court.
"But in mitigation, he contends that, at the time, he had a huge caseload," the decision states.
The Daniels case had been his first homicide, Ganz reportedly told the court.
"He testified that he does what is right and makes his best effort," the decision said. "[Ganz]'s life has been miserable for something he did not intend to do. He submits that a public reproval is the greatest discipline warranted under the facts and circumstances."
Instead of a reproval, the court recommended Ganz receive a stayed one-year suspension and be placed on two years' probation with 90 days of actual suspension. The court found Ganz culpable in four of six counts against him, including suppression of evidence and misrepresentation to defense counsel.
The court found that Ganz "significantly harmed the public and the administration of justice by failing to uphold his duties as a prosecutor to reveal exculpatory evidence," the decision said.
Ganz intentionally suppressed evidence favorable to the defense in the Daniels case in 2013 and 2014, according to the state bar court's decision. Daniels was accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Brastow, by suffocating her with a sock in a Vallejo motel room in 2012. A superior court jury found Daniels not guilty on all charges in April 2014.
The state bar's recommendation is pending final action by the California Supreme Court, an appeal before the state bar's review department or expiration of time in which parties may request further review within the state bar court.
Ganz's recommended discipline was among the dispositions filed earlier this month by the state bar court's hearing department for October.
Ganz was admitted to the bar in California on June 9, 2004, according to his profile at the state bar website. Ganz had no prior discipline before the state bar, according to the decision.