Wonder what those cops were doing on Hawthorne Boulevard? Wonder about that fire truck and that smoke?

Let us know, and we'll get Stephanie Walton on it. She not only knows everything in her role as our "Ask Us" columnist, she keeps the Lights & Sirens column flashing and blaring in the print edition. She also handles the police blotters.

You can 1) leave us a message at 310-543-6611, 2) fax us at 310-540-6272, 3) mail us a letter to Lights & Sirens, Daily Breeze, 5215 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503-4077. Include your name, address and daytime phone number.

More from City News Service:

SANTA MONICA (CNS) - Santa Monica police today sought two suspects in
connection with the killing of a 28-year-old Gardena resident, authorities
said.
   Officers were sent at 9:53 p.m. Saturday to the 2000 block of Court 19
to investigate reports of shots fired, said Sgt. Renaldi Thruston of the Santa
Monica Police Department. Court 19 is an alley between 19th and 20th streets,
according to the watch commander's office.
   Police were not immediately able to locate any victims or witnesses, but
a few minutes later, a hospital spokesperson reported that a gunshot victim
had been admitted there.
   The victim, identified as Byron Lopez, -- taken to the hospital by
friends -- died of his wounds, Thruston said.
   Detailed descriptions of the suspects were not available.
   Anyone with information about the crime was asked to call detectives at
(310) 458-8451, or the watch commander at (310) 458-8427. Those who want to
remain anonymous may call (800) 782-7463.

By HANS LAETZ
   City News Service
   MALIBU (CNS) - Clutching a small stuffed dog, an 11-year-old Topanga
Canyon girl calmly told a Malibu jury today that she can barely remember what
it's like to see, since she was left near-blind and suffering from a painful
condition that her parents and doctors claim was caused by a rare, severe
allergic reaction to Children's Motrin.
   ``It's hard to remember what seeing is like, when you haven't been able
to see for a long time,'' Sabrina Johnson testified during the trial of her
family's lawsuit against Children's Motrin manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and
its subsidiaries.
   She and her father testified that Sabrina's eyes were so painful in any
dim light that she once chose to spend several weeks inside a box at her
grandparents' house, near a Florida eye clinic.
   ``It was not a very fun Christmas,'' Sabrina said. ``Since I was in a
box, I was one of the presents.''

It's ironic, in a way, that an appeals court is doing exactly the thing that this New Mexico man wants to protest with his legally-rejected name change. 

Federal prosecutors today charged a Saudi Arabian man with organizing and directing the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. An article is posted at dailybreeze.com.

Here's what prosecutors sent to us:



The Defense Department announced today that charges have been sworn against 'Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri of Saudi Arabia. This swearing brings to twenty the number of detainees who are in some stage of the military commission process.

The charges allege that Mr. al-Nashiri participated in the planning and preparation for the attack on the USS Cole in the Port of Aden, Yemen, on Oct. 12, 2000. It is alleged that two men dressed as civilians piloted what appeared to be a small, civilian garbage barge up to the ship. The two men allegedly made friendly gestures to several crewmembers aboard the ship before detonating explosives concealed within their boat. The attack killed 17 sailors, wounded 47 sailors, and severely damaged the ship. It is alleged that al-Nashiri was involved in the following actions, among other things:

Two Torrance women are in Washington state today, where their mother's boyfriend, who is charged with the mother's murder, will be in court. It appears their mom, Baerbel Roznowski, 66, was planning to sell her suburban Tacoma home and move to Los Angeles to get away from her boyfriend, Chan Ok "Paul" Kim, 68. Just before her death, police served a restraining order on him.

The (Tacoma) News Tribune has the whole story. 

You know it's going to be a weird story when, during your regular round of morning calls to the local police departments, one of them asks you if anyone else has reported finding a goat ... with three legs.

This just landed in my e-mail inbox:

I read your story on Oscar Medrano and was amazed at the remarks.  As the article stated he pleaded "no contest", however it goes on to say and I quote "Medrano began sexually abusing the female relative in 1999, when she was 9 years old".   You have no proof of this he  pleaded no contest and you have made him out to be guilty.  Its amazing how the justice system works in America if you have money you can prove your innocent however if you do not the media makes you out to be a criminal.  You and your paper are a disgrace to this community and to the art of reporting the news.  You make up stuff yet you claim to report the news.  The City of Gardena has had a lot of terrible people running the show and a lot of baggage.  Although these individuals are no longer in charge, you never reported any of their crimes or affairs.  You closed your eyes and turned the other way.  Why because they support your paper and the relationship they had with people like Larry Altman at your paper.  In other words you and that entire paper can be bought.  You might has well call yourself "Star Magazine" as your news is full of holes and it is nothing but gossip trash made up by people who want to get even with others.  

If you were wondering what that helicopter was doing hovering over Hermosa Beach, police officers were looking for a burglar who ran from a house.

Sgt. Paul Wolcott said the man was inside a home in the 600 block of Gould Avenue when the resident arrived home and surprised him about 2:30 p.m. He pushed past her and ran, jumping over fences.

A Redondo Beach police dog found him hiding in a yard IN the 500 block of 24th Street about 5 p.m. He had stolen jewelry on him.

Deputies will conduct a sobriety and driver's license checkpoint from 7 p.m. tonight to 3 a.m. Saturday on Avalon Boulevard north of 169th Street in Carson.

Former Gardena City Councilman Oscar Medrano Jr. pleaded no contest today to one count of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor and one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14. He was immediately sentenced to eight years in state prison.

Medrano took a deal offered by prosecutors instead of going to preliminary hearing, during which details of his crimes would've come to light in the courtroom. Had Medrano been convicted at trial of the nine 12 counts he was charged with, he would've faced a maximum of 34 years in state prison, according to prosecutors.

We'll have a story posted soon on www.dailybreeze.com and a more complete story, hopefully with local reaction, in tomorrow's Daily Breeze.

Former Gardena City Councilman Oscar Medrano is scheduled for a preliminary hearing this morning in Torrance Superior Court on charges he sexually abused a young female relative.

Check back here later for an update.

Gardena police have identified a man killed in a collision with a suspected drunken driver as 21-year-old Khalib Zaire Turner, 21. Yesterday, we were told he had a Hawthorne address, but police today said he lived in Compton.

Turner died in the 11:50 p.m. crash Tuesday at El Segundo Boulevard and Normandie Avenue.

John Henry Guerrero, 24, of Torrance was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and vehicular manslaughter, police said.

I did a Web search on Turner and found his name listed as a student in an El Camino College English class and found his MySpace page, which was private. This photo accompanied it.

Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn, once a Superior Court judge, was charged today in connection to a low-interest loan the 72-year-old received from the city in 2004. The District Attorney's press release is after the jump.

A former sheriff's deputy who was assigned to the Carson station was sentenced today to three years probation and ordered to register as a sex offender and undergo sexual offender counseling. Joseh Mican Abadia Carlos, 32, was arrested in March after being charged for coming to a Hawthorne gas station to meet a 13-year-old girl he met in an online chat room. Instead, he met member so of the South Bay Internet Enforcement Task Force.

The seven-year veteran was terminated from his job after he was charged.

During a long and emotional sentencing hearing today, family of the former couple known as Lavell and Denise Gatewood cried over the wreckage that is their lives since Gatewood tried to kill Mrs. Gatewood in December 2006. His family maintains he is a good but troubled man who had no intention to kill his wife of 20 years. She and her family mourned the man they once knew as loving and kind, and spoke of how his three children are left fatherless - and praised God that they still have their mother.

Deputy District Attorney Jodi Link, a veteran of these types of cases, said the thought this was the "saddest" sentencing she'd ever seen. More than one family member lamented the fact that there are "no winners" here. Defense attorney Winston McKesson asked Torrance Superior Court Judge James Brandlin to reduce the conviction to assault, but Brandlin said the verdict is supported by the evidence.

Brandlin sentenced Gatewood to 29 years to life in prison - a few years shy of the maximum prescribed by law.

June 26 is the United Nations' International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The day is supposed to raise awareness of the major problem that illicit drugs represent to society. Countries all over the world commemorate the day with anti-drug activities.

Here's a message from the 1980s. (The video doesn't match the sound, but that makes it even more special.)

If you are one of these kids, send an email to tell us about that day.

 

During yesterday's preliminary hearing for two Latino men suspected of shooting at a black family as they drove through Harbor Gateway looking at cars for sale, the defense attorneys hit hard on the topic of whether or not the family engaged in any gang activity. There's always been this suspicion that one or more of the passengers were gang members, who maybe flashed their own gang signs or displayed a weapon. They all denied any such notion on the witness stand.

While Ernesto Murillo, a known East Side Torrance gang member, is the believed shooter - things are a little murkier for his co-defendant, Ismael Torres. Torres, who listened to the proceedings through a Spanish-language interpreter, is not known to law enforcement. He has no tattoos and doesn't dress the part of a gang banger. His mother was in court, and she wiped away tears in the hallway as her son was led back to the lock-up in shackles.

In the long run, it really doesn't matter - legally or morally - if the family were or are gang members. Certainly, 6-year-old Laverya Elzy and his two toddler cousins don't prowl the streets late at night looking to score crack, carjack or kill. No one deserves to be shot at, and those that pull the trigger over something as lame as "they were driving slowly in my territory" need to be prosecuted and locked up like the animlas they are.

 

Torrance police will display stolen property next week in the hope of findings its owners.

They've got handbags, televisions, watches, desk top computers, coins and other items that have gone unclaimed. It was recovered during investigations over the last six months.

If you think you're stuff might be among the loot, you'll need receipts, police reports or serial numbers to claim it.

The viewing will be from 8 a.m. to noon July 2 at the station, 3300 Civic Center Drive.

For more information, call Detective Doug Hath at 310-618-5624.

Prosecutors are still deciding whether they will seek the death penalty for Jonathan Fajardo and four other 204th Street gang members accused of killing friend Christopher Ash in Carson because they thought he snitched to the police about the slaying of 14-year-old Cheryl Green in the Harbor Gateway. The District Attorney's Special Circumstances Committee is also still considering whether Fajardo and another man accused of killing Cheryl will be sent to death row if convicted, too.

The five defendants in the Ash murder case were in a downtown courtroom today for a trial, but it was postponed because there is a motion a pending on whether or not to try the two cases together. Deputy District Attorney John Ramseyer told Judge Steven Van Sicklen that Fajardo is representing himself in the Cheryl murder case.

Everyone comes back to court Sept. 3 for the consolidation motion.

Fajardo and Ernesto Alcarez are charged with capital murder for killing Cheryl, who is black, as she stood with friends and family on Dec. 15, 2006. Authorities believe they shot the group in retaliation for an earlier shooting.

 

He's known as "America's Toughest Sheriff" and today he took action against "The Big Has-been."

Upset about former Laker Shaquille O'Neal's rapping rant against Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant,  Maricopa, Ariz. County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has revoked O'Neal's special deputy's badge that he issued to him in January. (If you remember,  Shaq worked for the Port police in San Pedro before he was sent off to Miami.)

The AP reported that Arpaio got pretty angry about the Phoenix Suns center's use of a racially derogatory word (it rhymes with "bigger") and other foul language in a rap video mocking this year's MVP. Arpaio promoted Shaq to the rank of colonel in his largely ceremonial posse earlier this month.

Shaq -- or whatever he calls himself now -- was seen in a video posted on TMZ.com rapping that "Kobe couldn't do without me." The guy who didn't get out of the first round because he's old, fat and can't move rips Kobe for not being able to win a championship without him.

He also says Kobe ruined his marriage, and suggests that Kobe "tell me how my ass tastes" -- repeatedly.

O'Neal claimed he was "freestyling" and he's fine with Bryant.

O'Neal served as a reserve officer with the Miami Beach Police Department while he was with the Heat and volunteered with the Tempe Police Department after being traded to the Suns in February.

(Yeah, I'm a Kobe guy.)

This guy is God. Seriously.

He's also Lucky. And a bit unlucky.

His name is God Lucky Howard, 39. He got arrested in Tampa for dealing cocaine.

Here's the full story by the Tampa Tribune's Howard Altman (no relation).

And then there's this one:

In Alton, Texas, an inmate tried to escape from the city's jail by crawling through the air ducts, but crashed through the ceiling -- into the police chief's office!

Oops. Here's the rest from AP:

Police say 17-year-old Jesus Albert Suarez Chavez and 22-year-old Roman Orozco Martinez tried to escape through air conditioning ducts of the Alton city jail around 3 a.m. Saturday, but had been spotted by a dispatcher monitoring security video.

One of the inmates fell through the ceiling into the office of Police Chief Baldemar Flores, who wasn't there at the time. The second inmate was trying to get into the vent.

Flores said he didn't know which inmate fell through the ceiling, only that the vents were very small.

Chavez and Martinez are charged with burglary of a vehicle, evading arrest, resisting arrest, assault on a public servant and making a terrorist threat. They are now being held in the Hidalgo County Jail.

The U.S. Coast Guard sent us this message. So don't panic on Wednesday.



LOS ANGELES - Harbor residents of Los Angeles and Long Beach will see increased law enforcement activity this Wednesday and Thursday as area emergency responders participate in a 2-day U.S. Coast Guard led counterterrorism exercise. The exercise is designed to test the Area Maritime Security Plan that was mandated by the Maritime Security Transportation Act of 2002 (MTSA).

The exercise will take place in both the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and include simulated bombings that law enforcement and fire agencies will respond to in real-time. The U.S. Coast Guard, FBI, Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles Police and Fire Departments, Long Beach Police and Fire Departments, Los Angeles Port Police, Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach along with maritime industry will be participating in the joint agency exercise. Port facilities will also be testing their own security plans in response to a Coast Guard ordered increase of the Maritime Security (MARSEC) level.

Here's a couple of items from the Redondo Beach Police Department's list of Recent Law Enforcement Events:

6-16-08 (Wednesday):
At approximately 11:30 p.m., three people were walking in the 2400 block of Vanderbilt Lane when they were approached by two occupants of a dark-colored SUV. While the driver remained in the vehicle the other two subjects demanded money, phones, and property from the victims as one of the subjects placed a makeshift knife to the throat of one, and the other subject punched one of the victims several times in the head. After acquiring property from the victims the subjects fled the area. A short time later three subjects committed a similar type of crime in the city of Hermosa Beach and were subsequently arrested after a short pursuit.

6-20-08 (Friday):
At 10:22 p.m., officers responded to the reports of a loud party in the 1800 block of Pullman. Officers arrived and located a residence where a party was taking place with well over 100 guests. While conducting their investigation one of the officers observed a fight taking place just inside the living room. The officers saw one of the subjects in the fight fall to the ground and begin to get kicked in the head. As the officers entered the residence to intervene one of the officers was attacked by the same person who was kicking the person on the ground. The officers sustained minor injuries taking the subject into custody. He was subsequently booked at the Redondo Beach Jail.

Michael Trevis, a former police chief in Huntington Park with 30 years experience in law enforcement, will take over as police chief at El Camino College on July 1.

Before his job in Huntington Park, Trevis served as chief in Maywood, and held leadership positions at the Bell Police Department.

He also worked as a police officer in the Los Angeles and Pasadena unified school districts.

Trevis takes over the position a year after the death of Police Chief Michael D'Amico. Former Hawthorne Police Chief Stephen Port took the position on an interim basis.

Trevis has an associate's degree in administration of justice from East Los Angeles College, a bachelor's degree in public administration and a master's degree in organizational leadership from the University of La Verne.

An 8-year-old boy killed in a crash on the San Diego Freeway in Carson on Sunday night has been identified as Brandon Lundy of Palos Verdes Estates.

If anyone knows Brandon's family, please contact me at 310-543-6655 or larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.  I have been unable to locate them.

 A short story will appear in Tuesday's paper about the crash.

It already appears on dailybreeze.com, but will be updated later.

About a minute after I posted the previous item about the driver's license checkpoint in Gardena, I got this comment from William Smith:

"What type of public service is this by warning offenders that they will
be cited?

With so may illegal drivers on our roads all you are doing is giving
them a free get out of jail card.

Great job you idiot."

May I respond, Mr. Smith?

I don't mind if you ask me a question or comment on my reporting, but don't write in and call me names. (Sticks and stones.)

We have answered people's questions on this issue time and again. Here it is once more:

The California Supreme Court used to require police to publicize sobriety checkpoints before they could hold them. It was called "advance publicity." We used to run the notices for free as a public service.

A number of years ago, the court reversed itself on that requirement. Police, however, continue to call us and ask us to publicize the information. They believe the information about sobriety checkpoints is a deterrent for drunken driving. They also take the news reports from the paper and Web into court to show judges that the information was publicized and drivers should have known better.

Officers apply the same logic to driver's license checkpoints.They figure if you know they conduct checkpoints, and you might lose your car for 30 days, you'll go get a license.

Here's a little extra background:  That item on Wednesday's checkpoint was posted today about two minutes after I got off the phone with Gardena police Officer Sergio Borbon, who asked me to publicize it. I typed it as I spoke to him.

Thanks for reading the blog.

Officers will conduct a driver's license checkpoint from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday in the southbound lanes of Vermont Avenue at 170th Street in Gardena.

Violators without valid licenses will be cited and their cars will be towed.

(Oh, and if you are drunk, they'll get you for that too.)

My colleague Andrea Woodhouse just let me know that her datebook says today is "Hug a Cop Day."

I've never heard of this, but I did find some references to it on the Internet. I just couldn't find an explanation for it. I also noticed that May 24 was apparently the international hug-a-cop festivity.

So, if you call for the aid of a cop today, or even if a cop gives you a ticket, give him or her a hug. Be nice. Show a little love.

This is the closest video I could find about hugging cops:

Levar Haney Washington was sentenced today to 22 years in federal prison for his part in prison-hatched terrorist plot to target local Israeli and Jewish organizations.

We'll have the full report in tomorrow's Daily Breeze.

Levar Haney Washington, one of four men whose plot to attack terrorist targets was thwarted after their arrest by Torrance police officers for a string of gas station robberies, is scheduled to be sentenced today in federal court in Santa Ana. Washington, 29, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in December and prosecutors will ask that he be sentenced to 24 years and seven months in prison today.

Two other men pleaded guilty to the plan that was hatched behind prison walls. A fourth man was found mentally incompetent to stand trial. The full City News Service story advancing today's hearing is after the jump. Photo via Fox News.

...these clowns are robbing banks in Los Angeles Lakers caps. The guy on the left hit three banks in Santa Monica, Hawthorne and Anaheim and then tried again to rob a Washington Mutual bank in Hawthorne. He ran when he was recognized.

Not too long after, the guy on the right showed up and robbed the same bank. Both wore the caps, claimed to have bombs and used black bags to carry away the loot. FBI officials have dubbed the man on the left the "Backpack Bomber Bandit." The guy on the right is believed to be his partner. Let's call him the "Backpack Bomber Bandit's Buddy."

If you know who they are, call the FBI at 310-477-6565.  Don't let these guys mess with the Lakers!

Full story coming soon to dailybreeze.com and Saturday's print edition.

**UPDATE: A friend of mine just reacted this way: "This is a good thing, dude. It means we've arrived. A few years ago, all the robbers were wearing Spurs gear. Go Lakers!"

Our pages at the Daily Breeze are filled with stories about shootings and gangs and other horrible things. We just received this press release from the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department. We should all move there.

Type of Incident: Found Horse
Date and Time of Incident: Sunday June 15th, 2008
Place of Occurrence: Nipomo in the area of Pomeroy & Olympic
Details of News Release:

On Sunday June 15th, Sheriff's deputies in the south county area of San Luis Obispo were alerted to a stray horse that had been spotted in the area of Pomeroy and Olympic in Nipomo.

Deputies located the horse several hours later at Osage and Eucalyptus.

No owner as yet has reported the animal missing and authorities are asking the public's in identifying the owner.

The horse is described as a mustang gelding, approx. 15 hands high, 8-9 years of age, black in color.

Persons having any information regarding the horse should contact Rural Crime Unit Deputy Darren Davidson at 805-781-4550. No charges are pending against the owner. Deputies want simply to return the animal after proper identification.

I've posted a number of comments about the murder-suicide that occurred Sunday at the McDonald's on Central Avenue in Carson. Stephen Meriwether shot Krystina Reed and then killed himself.

I've received comments that included disparaging remarks about both           Reed and Meriwether.

Keisha Oguynn, Meriwether's first cousin, has had enough of it and sent this today. I am posting it in its entirety. I tried to say this in a blog entry the other day, but Keisha did a much better job:

"This has gone extremely too far. Has everyone forgotten that two people died? It's not about who was right vs. who was wrong. Six children are left without a parent. Two families are grieving the exact same way. Name calling and finger-pointing aren't going to bring neither Stephen or Krystina back.

I am a first cousin of Stephen, and I'm saddened and heart-broken by this tragedy. The facts are irrelevant at this point; it happened and we can't change that.
 
The two people who are now dead are the ONLY people who knew the "truth" about their relationship. Stephen told his version of their relationship, and Krystina told her version. We on the outside looking in, don't really know what led to this tragedy. So everyone please stop passing judgment, and let them rest in peace. It's not solving anything, and it's not going to bring them back.

I would like to send my apologies and deepest sympathy to the family of Krystina. Let's please move on and put an end to this for once and for all."

Devan Jackson, the bystander shot in the leg in the April 11 gunbattle between police and a gang member at the El Segundo theaters, has finally found a job.

Remember how he was fired from his position at an El Segundo travel agency a few days after he was shot in the leg, causing him to miss work?

Well, Devan let me know today that he's working on clients' cases for attorney Larry H. Parker of  "Larry H. Parker got me $2.1 million" fame. Devan is finishing up his first week at Parker's office in Long Beach.

Devan and I have e-mailed each other a few times since I interviewed him and he's definitely a good man.

Although he still has a bullet in his leg, he's on the road to complete recovery.

He sent this along today:

"I knew I would be OK. God is capable of getting you through anything. You must just keep faith. Mom always tells me things will get better before they get worse."

Friday, June 20, 2008

Police wake man at 3 a.m. to warn of unlocked door LAKEVILLE, Minn. (AP) - A Lakeville man says he feels violated after two police officers woke him up at 3 a.m. to tell him his door was unlocked. Their surprise visit was part of a public service campaign to remind residents to secure their homes to prevent thefts. Usually, officers just leave notices on doors. But they went further in Troy Molde's case on Thursday. Police entered the house where four children under 7 were having a sleepover, and then went upstairs to Molde's bedroom. The officers told Molde his garage door was open, the TV was on, the keys to his truck were left in the ignition and the door to his house was ajar. A police spokesman says the intrusion was justified because the officers' initial door knocks went unanswered, and they wanted to make sure nothing was wrong. He says the kids inside - Molde's two sons and two nephews - were afraid to wake their dad, so the officers went upstairs. 2008-06-20     15:20:19 GMT

Joe, the brother of the 16-year-old arrested for shooting his cousin in Harbor City on Wednesday, continues to dispute what police said about what happened.

"Your story is still messed up. First of all there wasn't an argument between my cousin and my brother. The f----- police don't know s---. They are just assuming of what happened. That's why the whole justice system here in Los Angeles is all messed up. Once again there was never any heated argument between them. They were close. It was just a stupid accident basicially kids being stupid."

Ray Gen, an El Camino College trustee, sent this recently about our coverage of the forum held after a student was sexually assaulted on campus. (I went on vacation and forgot to post this.)

"Thank you Mr. Altman for your coverage of the forum we had (June 3) I thought your article covered well our campus' response and the programs we have in place in regards to safety at El Camino College.

I wish to also thank Brad Graverson for his photos. I thought the photo of
the bike officer was especially compelling.

Again - many thanks."

Reader Bob Henning sent this about the Harbor City shooting:

"Very sad and tragic. Another gang banging piece of garbage may not make it. Chalk one up for the people. I have become so desensitized to the whole gang epidemic that I am actually GLAD when I read about them being killed. Good riddance."

Today is International Surfing Day and this is a crime blog, so here's the trailer for "Point Break."

There wasn't much mystery to what Daniel Ramsey was going to receive for robbing, kidnapping and sexually assaulting two women and a young girl in two different Lawndale crimes. It was clear that Judge Eric Taylor, in sentencing Ramsey to 156 years plus two life terms, wanted to give Ramsey every minute in prison that the law would allow. But there were some interesting points that had to be debated about what the law would allow before Ramsey was sentenced.

One of the main issues the attorneys argued was whether or not the charges of rape and sodomy were two different actions or one crime. The law says that, if it can be determined that the attacker had any time to reflect on his actions and stop them, then there was a break and thus, two different crimes. That was how Deputy District Attorney Jodi Link and Taylor saw it, but not defense attorney Kevin Greber.

 

We just received a report that the two Los Angeles police officers who contended that City Councilwoman Janice Hahn pressured the department to remove them from their foot beats in Watts because they were tough on gang members lost their federal lawsuit today.

According to City News Service, jurors ruled against officers Ryan Moreno and Chuck Garcia, who claimed they were taken off the gang detail for criticizing the department.

Garcia and Moreno maintained in their suit filed in U.S. District Court that they had kept gang members out of the Jordan Downs Housing Development in South Los Angeles and were responsible for more than 300 arrests, detentions and stops in a year.

That resulted in numerous complaints against them by gang members and their supporters, they said.

Hahn told Daily Breeze reporter Gene Maddaus in May that the task force the officers were assigned to was intended to help improve the relationship between the police and the community, but at least 20 complaints were filed against Moreno in a year.

 "The complaints that would come up the most were complaints about disrespect, even name calling," Hahn said. "You would hear from the community that it was very difficult to work with LAPD when these two officers are doing X, Y and Z - being antagonizing and disrespectful. It just kept coming up from everywhere."

The officers said the complaints were an orchestrated effort to remove them from their beats.

Jurors sided with the city and department.

Gene's earlier story follows: