Court Won’t Move Case Against Ex-Policeman : Judge Refuses to Move Lawsuit Against Sperl

A Los Angeles federal judge Monday refused to move to a different court the case against a former Stanton policeman who has been sued in the shooting death of a 5-year-old boy.

U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima ruled that it would be “inappropriate” to move the case against retired Officer Anthony Sperl, 26, to federal court because of fears of publicity.

The action paves the way for trial of the $10-million negligence suit filed by the boy’s mother, Patricia Ridge, and other related actions beginning next Tuesday in Santa Ana Superior Court. Ridge’s suit was filed last year after Sperl shot and killed 5-year-old Patrick in the boy’s Stanton home after mistaking the child’s toy gun for a real weapon in a dimly lit room.

Boy Was Alone in House

Sperl was sent to the Ridge home on March 3, 1983, to check on the welfare of the boy, who was left alone in the house by his mother, who was at work.

Sperl’s Los Angeles attorney, Stephen Yagman, said the petition to move the trial was filed because it was becoming apparent that a “circus-like atmosphere” would otherwise prevail. The shooting and its aftermath have been the basis for several episodes for the popular “Hill Street Blues” television series. Because of the publicity attracted by the case, Yagman said he felt it was best that the trial be moved to a different court.

But Tashima disagreed, saying that the state courts were an appropriate place to try such cases.

Sperl has filed a cross-complaint against the City of Stanton, alleging improper training and negligence in providing particularly damaging bullets. The boy’s father, Larry R. Hewitt, an inmate in the Illinois state prison at Joliet, has sued Stanton, Sperl and Patricia Ridge, with whom he had lived but never married.

All three suits have been consolidated in court.

Yagman said he would appeal Monday’s ruling by Tashima.