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An appellate court issued a conditional reversal Wednesday for four sexual assault convictions against a man who raped a 15-year-old girl at the South Coast Botanic Garden on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Antoine Reed, 45, lost his appeal on several other grounds, but convinced the 2nd District Court of Appeal that the trial judge should have allowed a hearing on whether he could call the victim's mother to the witness stand.

Reed said he wanted her to testify about why she didn't want a detective to question her daughter. Reed argued that it went toward the possibility that the mother believed detectives were manipulating the teen, who gave several versions of the incident.

The case will return to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing regarding the issue. Depending on the outcome, Reed could get a new trial.

Reed was convicted by a Torrance Superior Court jury in December 2007 of rape, oral copulation of a minor and two counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child.

He picked the girl up on Aug. 2, 2006, as she waited at a South Los Angeles bus stop before school. With promises of making her a model, he took her to the garden to photograph her.

After he took pictures, he pulled off her clothes and assaulted her.

He was sentenced to 110 years to life.

You can see the appellate opinion here.

The decision to serve time in a city jail vs. county jail must not be an easy one, for anybody. While city jails offer a safer, nicer place to do your time - you're likely gonna do all of it. While at the county's overcrowded jails, less serious, non-violent offenses can literally garner a get-out-of-jail-free card for first-timers way before their sentence is done.

Barry Sacks' defense attorney, Laurence Donoghue, said his client will start the lengthy search and application process to find a city jail to serve his 60 days. Sacks knows he'd likely get out of county jail way quicker, but his "concerns" for his safety among the county's hardened criminals (who don't like child molestors) sealed his decision to chose a pay-to-stay facility.

It's an option many former law enforcement personnel or Hollywood types have chosen. Zsa Zsa Gabor spent 72 hours in an El Segundo jail for slapping a Beverly Hills cop. Earlier this year, "24" star Kiefer Sutherland paid $85 a day to stay at Glendale's city jail for a drunk driving conviction.

To learn more about some of the Souty Bay's pay-to-stay jails, check out the jump.

The signs were all there this morning: Barry Sacks conferring with his lawyer in the hallway outside of the coutroom. Sacks filling out paperwork. Sacks' attorney and the prosecutor having lots of discussion while consulting the Penal Code.

But, it was not to be. Torrance Superior Court Judge Alan Honeycutt called the case, then called the attorneys to the bench for a five-minute discussion. I tried eavesdropping, but some other attorneys were talking between me and there. All I saw was Honeycutt shaking his head.

However, Honeycutt did order a protective order for the nine girls who claim Sacks touched them in ways that violated the law. Sacks can't have any contact with them, must stay 100 yards away and, of course, not molest, harass, annoy, etc. etc.

He returns to court Oct. 27. 

Previous entries on this case can be found here.

After we reported a couple weeks ago that former Peninsula High School coach Barry Sacks was arrested and charged with nine counts of misdemeanor child molestation, my e-mail inbox went crazy with reactions. In today's Daily Breeze, we explore some of those reactions - especially why Sacks was still running his day camp after his arrest and what those who know him have to say about him and the allegations.

Read today's story: Charges fuel mixed emotions

We have not allowed user comments after today's story. However, we're accepting comments here. We'll post those that are clean and not slanderous.

Previously: Peninsula coach arrest sparks reader reaction

Parents whose kids were coached by Barry Sacks over the years, and others, are having some strong reactions to news this morning that he is charged with nine counts of child molestation.

One reader wrote:

"Thank you for making me aware of this.  Coach Barry has worked with my kids, and they would have been in this Road Runner Program this year, but I followed my first mind and passed.

"I spoke to Barry July 24th on Penn's track working with his Road Runner Group, and I was none the wiser as to what was going on with his arrest. It seems that he was out on bail, and still working with kids alone.  You can gather from this that I am upset because the matter should have been brought to my attention as a parent with the PVPUSD when he was dismissed.

"How did u come across this information, and why did it take so long to be brought to my attention?"

I hate to tell ya this, but I came across this story the same way I do many others: I literally stumbled upon it yesterday morning at the courthouse. I heard and saw some things, got nosy and figured it out. I also feel it's unfortunate that law enforcement and school officials did not make us aware of this case sooner. I suggest that parents who agree let school officials know.

In case you missed it because you were busy celebrating Independence Day on Friday, we ran a profile about a Palos Verdes Peninsula resident who is a gun rights lawyer - and how recent developments on that front have left him right in the thick of things.

During an interview last week, Chuck Michel and I talked a little bit about applying gun philosophies to the home, especially when children are there. He said some interesting things about it. For one, he doesn't let his sons play with "toy" guns because they encourage sloppy and unsafe handling. Both his kids have gone through gun safety classes, which mostly teaches how to stay away from guns and notify an adult if you see one.

So, while his kids weren't exposed early-on to firearms, they still picked up a lot from pop culture. He mentioned you can't even get away from guns on the Disney Channel. One day, when one of his sons was still quite young, he bit his quesadilla into the shape of a gun and pretended to shoot it.

His philosophy is that guns are so prevalent, like it or not, we better figure out how to co-exist safely with them. He realizes that this doesn't always make him the most popular guy in the room, but he's got his reasons.

Here's a preview of photos that will appear in tomorrow's paper from today's search and arrests of the suspected mail robbers:

Redondo Beach police and other agencies just chased a car through the South Bay onto Palos Verdes Drive East, where the three suspects abandoned their car in Rancho Palos Verdes and ran.

A search is underway near Mustang Road. That's what the helicopter is doing.

I'm told the three suspects held up a mail carrier in Manhattan Beach, took some mail and sped away. A Redondo Beach officer spotted them and the chase was on.

We'll have more when we can get it.

Here we go again. Every time we write about a crime occurring in the unincorporated area between Carson and Harbor Gateway, we get complaints about what we call that stretch of space.

The city manager of Carson sent us an angry letter explaining that the helicopter shooting incident this morning did not happen in Carson. Those of us at the Daily Breeze know that and never said it did, but other folks in the TV media apparently never open a Thomas Guide.

We understand why the good folks of Carson don't want to be tied to the problems that occur outside its boundaries. The fact that deputies at the Carson station patrol the unincorporated area doesn't help.

The problem is the area between Harbor Gateway and Carson has no name. Thus, we say things happen "near Carson" or "near Harbor Gateway."

We don't have much of a choice. I've actually looked at a big map on the wall here and measured where a crime has occurred to determine whether to say "near Carson" or "near Harbor Gateway."

So, it was "unincorporated area west of Carson" in today's story. It's the nearest named city. We could have said "west of Paris," but that's a good distance away.

Then we got this email from a reader:

"do you have a problem calling it torrance

pubic records states the city is torrance- there is no such city called near carson , west carson, west of carson, by carson or harbor gateway.

If you need help using a map let me know."

Hmmmm. First of all, it's "public."