The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a courthouse fight that broke out Wednesday between a District Attorney’s investigator and a defense attorney who triumphed over prosecutors in a recent case involving jailhouse informants.

The investigator and attorney got into an argument that turned physical around 10 a.m. in a hallway outside a 10th floor courtroom, Lt. Mark Stichter said. He didn’t know what prompted the argument.

But defense attorney James Crawford said he was attacked by a DA investigator he didn’t recognize.

“My back was to him and the next thing I know I find my head getting slammed into a bench.” Crawford said. “He then proceeded to punch me and pin me into the bench.”

Crawford represents Henry Rodriguez, who is twice convicted of murder and won a retrial last month in the wake of allegations prosecutors improperly used a jailhouse informant and withheld evidence. The Rodriguez trial is one of six cases that has unravelled in the fallout over Orange County’s snitch controversy.

As a result of that ruling, “some in the DA’s office had an animus toward Mr. Crawford,” said Jerry Steering, Crawford’s attorney.

“It wasn’t personal,” Steering said of Crawford’s allegations against prosecutors. “But apparently they don’t like him too much.”

Crawford said, “They’re still angry over us getting a new trial.”

The Sheriff’s Department did not identify the DA investigator.

The District Attorney’s office is cooperating with the Sheriff Department’s investigation into the incident, said Roxi Fyad, a spokeswoman for the office.

“When the investigation is complete, the matter will be referred to the California Attorney General’s Office for a legal review,” she said.

Orange County Superior Court Presiding Judge Charles Margines declined to discuss the altercation.

The incident occurred Wednesday after a judge asked Crawford to assist a woman who received a subpoena tied to a trial in Department C40, Steering said. The woman apparently was being offered a limited immunity deal in return for assisting with a case, he said.

Steering said Crawford, the woman and an interpreter were talking in the courthouse hallway when an unidentified investigator interferred and stated that defense lawyers are “sleazy.”

Crawford replied that they are no worse than those in the District Attorney’s office caught up in the jailhouse informant scandal, Steering said.

Crawford began walking away, Steering said, when the investigator threw a paper clip at him.

“This sounds like a 7th grade squabble,” Steering said. “My guy turns around and says (an expletive) and (the investigator) just grabbed him and started slamming his head into a bench.”

Steering said Crawford didn’t throw any punches. Several nearby officers broke up the altercation.

Tom Dominguez, president of the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, said in a statement there were many witnesses to the altercation and that Crawford’s “one-sided version is simply not true.”

Among the personnel represented by the association are District Attorney’s investigators.

“A careful investigation will reveal the true facts. We are cooperating fully in that investigation and we look forward to the actual facts being released publicly,” Dominguez said.

Crawford, who suffered a head wound, plans to file a lawsuit against the county, Steering said.

“I’ve seen inmates beat up in a courthouse, but I’ve never seen a DA’s investigator beat up a lawyer,” he said.

Neither the investigator nor the attorney were taken into custody or transported to a hospital for injuries, Stichter said.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@ocregister.com Twitter: @thechalkoutline