LOS ANGELES -- Attorney Robert Steinberg will answer a subpoena Friday for the videotapes he claimed showed top government officials in sex acts, but he will refuse to answer further questions to avoid self incrimination, his lawyer said Thursday.
Attorney Leonard Levine said no deal had been made to avoid prosecution in the case for filing a false police report the alleged tapes were stolen from Steinberg's office last week.
Steinberg, who has been in seclusion for the last week, will not appear at the hearing, which had been scheduled for Monday.
District Attorney Robert Philibosian said his office would oppose Levine's attempt to answer the subpoena without Steinberg in court.
'This entire issue of the videotapes was created by Mr. Steinberg when he told members of the news media he possessed such tapes,' Philibosian said in a statement released by his office.
'Mr. Steinberg has been ordered by the court to appear either with any tapes which may exist or, in the alternative, explain the nonexistence in light of his previous public statements,' the prosecutor said.
Steinberg claimed July 11 he had been given three videotapes showing presidential confidant Alfred Bloomingdale, his longtime mistress Vicki Morgan and several top government officials at 'sex parties.'
He first said he was going to destroy to tapes to protect 'national security,' but later told reporters he would offer them to President Reagan.
The following day -- after the the district attorney asked him to turn over the tapes -- he reported them stolen from a gym bag in his office.
The Beverly Hills police investigated the alleged theft and recommended July 15 that misdemeanor charges be filed against Steinberg for making a false police report.
Levine said he does not want Steinberg to appear in court to avoid a 'media circus,' adding he is concerned about publicity surrounding the case that could harm Marvin Pancoast, who is charged with the July7 murder of Miss Morgan.
Steinberg said the declaration he plans to read in court Friday will state Steinberg 'does not possess any tapes as described in the subpoena.'
Further, the declaration will state, 'Mr. Steinberg has not possessed any tapes since he was served with the subpoena and that he would refuse to answer any further questions concerning the existence or non-existance of any tapes anytime to his knowledge based on his privilege against self-incrimination.'
Because Pancoast's arraignment, which was scheduled for Monday, was held this week, Levine hopes the court will agree there is no justification to order Steinberg to appear in court next week.
But Philibosian said, 'It is Mr. Steinberg's obligation to come into court and publicly tell the judge -- on the record -- exactly what he does or does not know about these tapes.'
Pancoast, 33, pleaded innocent and innocent by reason of insanity Tuesday to murder charges in the beating death of Miss Morgan, 30. Detectives said the unemployed talent agency clerk beat the woman to death with a baseball bat while she slept in the apartment they had shared for three weeks.
Pancoast turned himself in to police only hours after the slaying. He later told reporters he killed Miss Morgan because she made him her 'little slave boy.'
Pancoast, in a special security section of the county jail, is being held on $250,000 bail. His attorney, Arthur Barens, has notified the sheriff he believes Pancoast could be the target of persons 'who don't want to see him stand trial' because of Miss Morgan's association with a friend of the president.
Barens said Thursday Steinberg should either produce the tapes in court, explain their whereabouts or admit he was lying when he claimed to have them.
Stating he believed Steinberg lied about the tapes, Barens predicted the attorney would be in an 'institution' by Monday if he is ordered to personally answer the subpeona in court.
Barens has asked police for a copy of the taped statement Pancoast made after turning himself in, but had not received it the material by late Thursday. He said he expected to obtain a copy Friday morning.
The attorney has said he is not 'totally convinced' his client killed Miss Morgan, who exposed her affair with Bloomingdale, an heir to the department store chain and a cofounder of the Diners Club, in an $11 million palimony suit filed last July.
A judge dismissed major portions of the suit, ruling that Miss Morgan was a 'well-paid prostitute. Bloomingdale died of cancer last August at age 66.
