Los Angeles Times - 21.09.2019

LATIMES.COM B

CITY & STATE

STREET FESTIVAL ENDS TODAY

Allison ZauchaFor The Times

Players watch a FIBA 3x3 basketball game at the Los Angeles Street Festival on Friday in El Segundo. The free event, hosted by

The Times, also features an open esports Super Smash Bros. tournament, music and food trucks. Advance registration is advised.

A California appeals

court Friday rejected Leslie

Van Houten’s latest bid for

release from prison.

The 70-year-old Charles

Manson follower has been

recommended for parole

three times, and each has

been rejected — twice by for-

mer Gov. Jerry Brown and

most recently by Gov. Gavin

Newsom.

During oral arguments in

June before a panel of the

2nd District Court of Ap-

peal, Van Houten’s attorney,

Rich Pfeiffer, said his client

should be released because

she has been rehabilitated

and is no longer a threat.

Jill Alicia VanderBorght,

a representative of the state

attorney general’s office, ar-

gued against Van Houten’s

release, citing the “extreme

gravity” of the crimes and

her continued “minimiza-

tion” of her role in them.

The appeals court de-

clined to reverse Brown’s de-

cision from January 2018.

Since Brown made his ruling

nearly two years ago, the

Board of Parole Hearings

again recommended Van

Houten for parole, which

Newsom rejected in June.

Fifty years ago, in August

1969, the former homecom-

ing princess was one of three

who stabbed to death Los

Angeles grocer Leno LaBi-

anca and his wife, Rosemary,

at the direction of Manson.

She was 19 at the time.

The slayings followed the

killings of pregnant actress

Sharon Tate, hairstylist Jay

Sebring, recent high school

student Steven Parent, cof-

fee heiress Abigail Folger

and her boyfriend, Voytek

Frykowski.

The parole hearings have

been a constant for decades.

In 1972, a California

Supreme Court ruling found

the state’s death penalty law

unconstitutional. The sen-

tences of the convicted kill-

ers were changed to life in

prison with the possibility of

parole.

At the time, the victims’

families were assured that

the change was just a techni-

cality. But in the years since,

they’ve come to learn that

release is not out of the

realm of possibility.

Besides Van Houten, Pa-

tricia Krenwinkel, 71, Bobby

Beausoleil, 71, Charles “Tex”

Watson, 73, and Bruce Davis,

76, remain in prison. Manson

died in 2017.

Kay Hinman Martley, a

cousin of Gary Hinman —

the first Manson victim,

killed weeks before the Au-

gust 1969 rampage — and

Debra Tate, the sister of

Sharon Tate, have a website

dedicated to the status of

the so-called Manson family

behind bars.

City News Service

contributed to this report.

Manson

follower

denied

again

By Colleen Shalby

State appeals court

rejects Leslie Van

Houten’s latest bid for

release from prison.

SAN DIEGO —A judge
on Friday ordered a 20-year-
old man to stand trial on
charges of murder and at-
tempted murder in the April
shootings at a Poway syna-
gogue.
John Timothy Earnest of
Rancho Peñasquitos also
faces one count of arson
from a fire at an Escondido
mosque March 24.
A preliminary hearing for
Earnest wrapped up after a
final prosecution witness
testified about being shot in
the leg at Chabad of Poway
on April 27.
San Diego Superior
Court Judge Peter Deddeh
determined there was
enough evidence presented
at the hearing for Earnest’s
case to move forward. Be-
cause of special-circum-
stance allegations that the
crimes were committed as a
hate crime, prosecutors
have the option of seeking
the death penalty.
That decision has not yet
been made, Deputy Dist.
Atty. Leonard Trinh said af-
ter the hearing.
Authorities believe the
shootings were prompted by
Earnest’s professed hatred
of Jewish people, as ex-
pressed in an online “open
letter” that he posted before
the incident. In the letter, he
said he had made up his
mind to commit the shoot-
ing after 51 people were
killed and 49 injured in a
March 15 suspected white-
supremacist attack at a New
Zealand mosque.
Earnest’s parents, who
did not attend the hearing,
issued an emailed state-
ment Friday through an at-
torney, saying in part that,
“As the justice systems con-
ducts court hearings to hold
our son accountable for his
actions, we would would like
people to know that we are
deeply sorry that the victims
of our son’s heinous actions
are having to relive the awful
events of that day.”
The statement contin-
ued, “We are deeply sorry
that law enforcement offi-
cers and medical personal
are having to recall the ter-
rible images they saw as they
give testimony at the prelim-
inary hearing.
“These thoughts and im-
ages overwhelm anyone see-
ing them, certainly the pub-
lic and the first responders,
but especially the family and
friends of the victims. We are
profoundly sorry for the grief
everyone is suffering and we
hope and pray for peace for
everyone.”
The email said that the
parents would have no fur-
ther public comment until
the criminal case is resolved.
Witnesses testified
Thursday, the first day of the

hearing, about the “chaos”

that erupted inside the

synagogue when a gunman

opened fire, killing one per-

son and wounding three oth-

ers. Earnest was arrested in

Rancho Bernardo shortly

after the 11:20 a.m. shooting,

with an AR-15 rifle, tactical

helmet and five 10-cartridge

magazines in his car.

He had called 911 and told

a dispatcher, authorities

said: “I opened fire in a syna-

gogue. I think I killed some

people. Some man returned

fire with a pistol. I got in my

car and drove away.”

He surrendered peace-

fully to a San Diego police of-

ficer who found Earnest

parked at West Bernardo

Center Road and Rancho

Bernardo Drive.

Earnest appeared to

smirk when surveillance vi-

deo was played in court of 60-

year-old congregant Lori

Gilbert-Kaye being shot

down inside the lobby of the

synagogue. During a break

in the proceedings, he

turned partly toward spec-

tators and made a “hang-

loose” gesture with one

hand, thumb and little finger

extended.

Almog Peretz, 34, an Isra-

eli who had been visiting his

sister and attending Chabad

of Poway for several months,

testified Friday through a

Hebrew-speaking inter-

preter that he heard a loud

“boom” while he was in the

synagogue’s adjoining social

hall.

He said he wasn’t sure

what caused the noise, so he

took a few steps toward a

door into the synagogue

lobby.

“I saw his face,” Peretz

said. “He was standing like

this with his weapon. Like a

soldier.”

He raised his hands as if

aiming a rifle.

Peretz said he grabbed

the 4-year-old daughter of a

friend with one arm and his

8-year-old niece’s hand with

the other and ran for an exit

that led to an outdoor play-

ground full of children.

“Bullets were flying all

around me,” he said. He said

he didn’t notice it at the

time, but he believes that’s

when he and his niece, Noya

Dahan, were wounded by

the gunfire. Bullets or shrap-

nel hit each of them in a leg.

“I yelled to all the kids

and I ran with all the kids

toward the small gate,”

Peretz recalled.

He and a 15-year-old girl

ushered the children into

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein’s

nearby house. Then, he said,

he realized he hadn’t seen

where another of his nieces

was, so he ran back to the

synagogue to look for her.

“When I got back to the

synagogue, I saw blood on

my jeans,” Peretz said. “My

right leg, in the back.”

Before he was ushered

into an ambulance, he saw

Gilbert-Kaye lying on the

lobby floor.

Congregant Oscar Stew-

art testified Thursday that

he tried to revive the woman.

Her husband, a doctor, came

to help with CPR but when

he realized that the unre-

sponsive woman was his

wife, he groaned and fainted,

Stewart said. Gilbert-Kaye

did not survive.

Rabbi Goldstein, who

had been in the lobby with

Gilbert-Kaye when the

shooting started, was

wounded in both hands and

lost a finger.

Peretz said he spent a

day in a hospital and learned

he had also sprained his

knee. He later had surgery

on his leg, followed by many

months of physical therapy.

It was just two months ago

that he was able to walk nor-

mally, he said.

Looking back on the day

of the shooting, Peretz said,

“I was also very confused in

my head. My adrenaline was

coursing. Up until now, I still

feel the same.”

Earnest’s lawyer, Deputy

Public Defender John

O’Connell, asked Peretz a

few questions about the

events that day, then prose-

cutors concluded their case.

O’Connell told the judge

that prosecutors had not

met the burden of proof on

each charge and allegation

to warrant trial on each

count, but the judge disa-

greed.

After the hearing, an at-

torney who said he was rep-

resenting Peretz in a civil

matter told reporters that

his client is suffering from

post-traumatic stress syn-

drome because of the shoot-

ing.

Yoni Weinberg called

Peretz “one of the bravest in-

dividuals I’ve ever met” for

herding the children away

from the gunman.

“He got 10 to 20 children

to safety. He knows he saved

their lives,” Weinberg said,

but he added that having

that knowledge hasn’t

helped Peretz deal with the

aftermath.

“It’s scary when you have

that image burned in your

head of a man in a militaris-

tic vest aiming the rifle at

you with the sole intention of

taking away your life be-

cause of nothing other than

your religion. He’s always

looking for the next John

Earnest, no matter where he

is.”

Earnest is to return to

court on Oct. 3, and a trial

date could be set at that

time.

He also faces a separate,

113-count federal indictment

alleging hate crimes, using a

firearm and obstructing the

free exercise of religious be-

liefs by using a dangerous

weapon resulting in death

and injury. He could face the

death penalty in this case,

which is being heard in fed-

eral court.

Synagogue suspect to be tried

San Diego man is accused of killing one and injuring three at Chabad of Poway in April

By Pauline Repard

ALMOG PERETZ, an Israeli visiting his sister April 27 and attending Chabad of

Poway, testifies Friday at a hearing for shooting suspect John Timothy Earnest.

John GibbinsThe San Diego Union-Tribune

AUTHORITIESsay Earnest told a 911 dispatcher

after the shooting, “I think I killed some people.”

A Los Angeles judge has

rescinded sanctions against

two prosecutors whom she

said had failed to give de-

fense lawyers evidence in a

case against a Mexican

megachurch leader charged

with child rape and human

trafficking.

Reconsidering at the re-

quest of the California attor-

ney general’s office, Superior

Court Judge Teresa Sullivan

on Friday overturned $10,

in fines she levied a day earli-

er but indicated the evi-

dence must be provided by

Monday.

Sullivan had found that

the prosecutors violated a

court order to provide evi-

dence to lawyers for Naason

Joaquin Garcia, leader of La

Luz del Mundo, and two co-

defendants.

They have pleaded not

guilty to allegations of sexu-

ally abusing three girls and a

woman in Los Angeles

County.

A hearing to determine if

the case should go to trial is

scheduled for Monday.

Judge overturns fines

against prosecution

in church abuse case

associated press