LAPD Officer Gets Probation for DUI

A veteran Los Angeles police officer was sentenced to three years of probation Friday, after a judge reduced his drunk-driving charges to misdemeanors.

John Joseph Leonard, 61, was convicted earlier this month of driving under the influence, after having a few drinks with friends at a Moose Lodge near his Canoga Park home, then crashing his truck into a palm tree and a metal post, seriously injuring passenger Charles DeHart, 70.

Leonard, a motorcycle patrolman in the San Fernando Valley, could have been sentenced to a maximum of six years in state prison.

DeHart, using a cane to help him walk, fellow police officers and a veteran prosecutor asked Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Barry A. Taylor for leniency in sentencing Leonard, a first-time offender who has been with the Los Angeles Police Department for 31 years.

“This is an unusual situation,” said Taylor, who found Leonard guilty on all charges during a two-day trial in Van Nuys. “We have an exemplary [employment] record -- at least 31 years with the department. And we have very high blood alcohol and serious injury.”

Taylor reduced Leonard’s two felony convictions to misdemeanors and sentenced him to unsupervised probation, a mandatory five days in a city jail and a $390 fine. Leonard’s driver’s license was also revoked for a year.

With a felony conviction, Leonard would have resigned from the Police Department, said his attorney, Ira Salzman. Leonard is scheduled to appear Tuesday before the LAPD’s Board of Rights for a disciplinary hearing.

Leonard apologized to the court and said he has attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at least twice a week since the Jan. 29 crash. He was charged in June and relieved of duty without pay in August, pending the outcome of the trial.

“We believe he has an excellent chance of retaining his job,” Salzman said.

DeHart said he and Leonard remain friends and neighbors. “In fact,” he added, “I drove him here today.”