Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Valley Glen, Pacific Palisades and 10 other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 12 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Six neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Valley Glen was the most unusual, recording seven reports compared with a weekly average of 2.8 over the last three months. Pacific Palisades topped the list of six neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD chief defends investigation of Bryan Stow beating case
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Friday lauded the investigative work that led to the arrest of two men in connection with the brutal beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium. Louie Sanchez, 29, and Marvin Norwood, 30, were charged Friday with one count each of mayhem, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury, all felonies. The complaint alleges that both men personally inflicted great bodily injury on Stow. The men remain in custody in lieu of $500,000 bail each.
Los Angeles Times

Dodger Stadium beating suspects to be arraigned Monday
The two new suspects in the Dodger Stadium beating of Bryan Stow will be arraigned Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, authorities said. The two men from Rialto were charged with assault and mayhem Friday afternoon and held on $500,000 bail. Stow, a San Francisco Giants fan and 42-year-old paramedic, was left with brain damage after the March 31 violence at Dodger Stadium. Court records show that Sanchez and Norwood have a history of violent crimes.
Los Angeles Times

New city law would boost regulation of big bashes
Spurred by a rise in complaints about party houses, the City Attorney's Office is working with the Los Angeles Police Department on a new ordinance to crack down on chronic locations. The rules would regulate everything from large-scale bashes thrown by party promoters to regular house parties that grow too rowdy. Intended to curb noise complaints in hillside communities, where the sound of DJ music and bawdy conversations echoes and carries, the ordinance could also address safety issues, like parked cars clogging streets and blocking police and fire department access.
Los Angeles Daily News

California's Willie Horton?
We all remember the case of Willie Horton, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the 1974 killing of a 17-year-old gas station attendant. In 1986, Horton was released under Massachusetts' weekend furlough program but never returned. Ultimately, he committed assault, armed robbery and rape. The case was a classic example of the risks behind the early release of prisoners likely to commit serious crimes. Almost a quarter of a century later, we have the case of Zackariah Lehnen, a 30-year-old transient paroled from a California prison after serving only five months of a 16-month sentence for drug possession.
LAPPL Blog

LAPD seeks arsonist as more suspicious fires start overnight
Los Angeles police and arson investigators were searching Sunday for an arsonist who may be responsible for setting at least 14 car, mobile home and apartment fires in the North Hollywood area over the last two days. So far the area targeted by this firebug appears to be bounded by Lankershim Boulevard on the east, Vanowen Street on the north, Laurel Canyon Boulevard on the west and Burbank Boulevard on the south. The fires began each day around 3 a.m., according to city fire dispatch supervisor Capt. Rick McClure.
City News Service

1 of 2 men shot by masked gunman in LA dies
Authorities say one of two men shot by a masked gunman outside a Los Angeles nightclub has died. City News Service reported Sunday that 29-year-old Jackie Hoang of Alhambra died Saturday, hours after being hit by multiple gun shots at the entrance to the club in Little Tokyo. The name of the other wounded man was withheld. He was reported in critical condition Saturday. Investigators say the men appeared to be targeted as they stood outside smoking cigarettes.
Associated Press

Prisons & Parole

Board slow to parole medical inmates, Leno says
The state lawmaker who wrote a law that allows medically incapacitated inmates to be paroled from prison early is objecting to the way parole officials have implemented the measure and are dragging their feet in scheduling the hearings. In a July 13 letter to the Board of Parole hearings, Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, asked why the board has failed to schedule medical parole hearings for 19 inmates that have been identified by prison doctors as potentially eligible for the parole program, which is expected to save the state millions of dollars.
San Francisco Chronicle

Fiscal and prison overcrowding crises could lead to Three-Strikes reform
From almost the day California's Three Strikes sentencing law was approved by voters in 1994, opponents have tried and failed to repeal or amend the politically popular measure. Now, huge budget deficits and overcrowded prisons have given opponents of the Three Strikes Law a more attractive argument for why it should be changed: California is broke and can't afford such an expensive approach to criminal justice anymore.
Oakland Tribune

Immigration