Recently in Los Angeles Category

This comes from the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- A Los Angeles County grand jury has charged a convicted serial killer with three more murders.
Authorities Thursday said Michael Hughes was indicted last week on charges that he raped,
sodomized and strangled a 15-year-old girl, whose body was found in an Iglewood park in 1986. He has also been charged with killing two women in Los Angeles in 1986 and 1993.
One body was found in a school stairwell.
Authorities say Hughes, 53, was linked to the crimes by DNA evidence.
He pleaded not guilty to the new charges on Tuesday and could face the death penalty if
convicted.
Hughes already is serving a life term without chance of parole for killing four women in 1992
and 1993.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- Authorities say a body has been found in a burning car on
the banks of the Los Angeles River.
Fire officials discovered the body after responding to a report of a car fire early
Saturday in the riverbed near the 710 Freeway in the South Gate neighborhood.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Rubino says due to the severity of the burns,
authorities have been unable to identify the body.
The incident is under investigation.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- Authorities say man who killed himself as deputies served an eviction notice at a Northridge home had a history of psychological problems and a house full of guns.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Guillermina Saldana says deputies heard gunshots when they knocked on 54-year-old David Smith's door Friday.
Neighbors were evacuated and a strategic weapons and tactics team was called. When Los Angeles police officers entered the residence, they found Smith dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Smith was alone in the home and no one else was wounded during the incident.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge has overturned the conviction of a Los Angeles man serving a life prison sentence for his mother's death in 1983.
U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips ruled Friday that 44-year-old Bruce Lisker should be retried or set free. She concluded he was convicted on false evidence and that his attorney failed to adequately represent him at trial.
In a phone interview from prison, Lisker says he is elated, but the feeling is bittersweet because he has served more than 24 years in prison.
Two reports by a magistrate judge found in March that faulty evidence was used to convict Lisker in 1985.
A hearing on Monday will determine whether Lisker should be released on bail while prosecutors determine whether to appeal or retry him.

coming down fast

Aug. 10, 1969, 3301 Waverly Drive, Los Feliz, Calif. It's well after midnight. There's no moon in the sky.

It's a few short miles from the Monrovia neighborhood she grew up in, but Leslie Van Houten is a long way from home.

Charles Manson, whom Van Houten believes is both Jesus and Satan, has just tied up Rosemary and Leno LaBianca.

Manson believes The Beatles are talking to him. He believes their song depicts an apocalyptic race war between blacks and whites.

He figures that by killing some straights, the war will begin in earnest and when the smoke clears, he'll reign as some sort of messiah. At least that's what he tells his followers.

Addled by LSD and an assortment of reds, bennies, dexies, mescaline, hash, opium, PCP, mushrooms and pot, Van Houten buys into the crap Charlie's been feeding her for months. She wants to please him.

"The more I took it (LSD), the more I couldn't relate to regular kinds of people," Van Houten recalled later.

Now, Van Houten stands inside the master bedroom. There's a pillowcase over Rosemary LaBianca's head. Leslie ties it taut with an electrical cord. She can't stand to hear the woman scream.

Van Houten holds Rosemary down, while accomplice Patricia Krenwinkle stabs the woman.

Leslie calls out for help. Leno's killer, Charles "Tex" Watson enters the bedroom and stabs Rosemary several more times with a bayonet. He hands the weapon to Van Houten and tells her, "Do something."

Van Houten delivers 16 more stab wounds. Then she steals the now dead woman's clothes, wipes the crime scene free of fingerprints and leaves the room.

She passes through the living room. There, Rosemary's husband Leno is already dead. Leno's head is covered with a pillowcase.

He's been stabbed with a two-tined carving fork. The word "WAR" has been sliced into his chest. The fork protrudes from his stomach. There's a knife in his throat.

"DEATH TO PIGS" dripped in blood on one of the walls.

Leslie heads to the kitchen. In Leno's blood, someone misspells "HEALTER SKELTER" on the refrigerator door.

Van Houten grabs some food from the `fridge and hitches a ride back to the Spahn Ranch in Van Nuys where she meets up with Charlie.

It's coming down fast.

By December Van Houten and the rest of Manson's family had been captured.

The county jail was a far cry from Van Houten's Monrovia roots.

Her mother, Jane, a Monrovia school teacher, once told a court that "Les" was a "feisty" girl. She sang in the church choir, was a Camp Fire Girl, took piano lessons, liked camping, and was happy with school.

At Monrovia High School, Van Houten was sophomore class princess at homecoming. She was a cheerleader.

Early in 1968, Leslie "dropped out of the straight world," her mother recalled.

After several trials (one of which resulted in the death penalty), retrials, appeals, a brief bit of freedom in 1978, and failed visits to the parole board. Leslie Van Houten remains incarcerated in the state women's prison in Corona.

The place where Van Houten will likely die is just 32 miles from where she grew up - and a world apart.

By LA Weekly's count of every murder within Los Angeles city limits, we are at 168 as of yesterday when a taxi driver stabbed earlier this month died of his wounds. Compare that to last yearJuly 18th, there were 208 compared to the 162 this year as of that date. That's a 22.1% decline in murders so far. Add to that, the murder rate has declined over the last few years. The LAPD's consent decree ended last week, which in theory should let officers be more productive in some aspects, but some oppose the lifting of the decree. The ACLU contends that there are still problems within the department in regards to racial bias.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- Authorities say a 5-year-old girl has been stabbed to death by her mother, who then slit her own wrists and died.
Los Angeles police Officer Rosario Herrera says the girl and her 30-year-old mother were discovered Saturday morning at a home in the Garvanza neighborhood.
Herrera say the girl had been stabbed multiple times and the mother's wrists sustained cuts that were apparently self-inflicted. No further details are immediately available.
Both the mother and daughter were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names are withheld pending notification of family.

Alex Sanchez had a second bail hearing on Wednesday afternoon. He did not get bail. Nor was he denied it.

Alex, if you'll remember, is the former MS-13 gang member turned highly honored gang intervention leader and head of the well-regarded nonprofit, Homies Unidos. A month ago, Sanchez was named in a federal racketeering indictment and accused of plotting the murder of a rival gang member. The case alleges Sanchez was leading a double life: while a good guy by day, by night he was the premier shot caller--AKA leader--of a particularly violent clique of MS-13.

At the last bail hearing held on June 30, 110 people wrote letters of support--including city leaders and a wide array of clergy. Friends and colleagues put up $1.2 million in surities against any bail. To sweeten the deal, Tom Hayden put up his house toward the hoped for bond. Sanchez was denied bail anyway.

Sanchez's attorney appealed the bail decision, and Wednesday's hearing was the result. But rather than settle the matter, U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real decided to continue the bail issue until August 17, nearly a month from now.

On the surface this might sound like just another case of justice delayed. But, there is a lot more to this story.

Attorney General Holder will hold a press conference at the DEA's Los Angeles field office to announce Recovery Act funds for the administration's Southwest border strategy.  The Attorney General will be joined by Timothy J. Landrum, DEA Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office; Ralph W. Partridge, DEA Special Agent in Charge of the San Diego Field Office; and local law enforcement officials.