Detective Says Officer Lied About Key Details in Slaying

Officer Rodney W. Kelley denied fatally shooting a Cuban immigrant in the back because he “did not want his career mired,” but later admitted that he lied about key details, a Los Angeles police detective said Tuesday.

Testifying at Kelley’s Board of Rights hearing, Detective Otis E. Marlow said that the officer substantially changed his initial version of the Oct. 24, 1984, shooting of Miguel Angel Herrera after an autopsy showed that Herrera had been hit from behind by one of three bullets fired by Kelley.

Kelley had insisted at first that all three shots were fired in direct self-defense against Herrera, 30, who had been stopped for questioning in South-Central Los Angeles and then gained control of Kelley’s baton during a fight.

When confronted with the autopsy results the day after the shooting, Kelley admitted firing at least one shot at Herrera’s back as the man ran away, according to Marlow, who at the time was assigned to the department’s officer-involved shooting team, which investigates all police shootings.

Marlow’s testimony, which came on the same day the department rested its case against Kelley, was among the most damaging presented against Kelley, 26, a four-year LAPD veteran.

Kelley has been accused of violating Police Department policy by allegedly “unnecessarily discharging” his service revolver and of making “false and misleading statements” to investigators. He has pleaded innocent to both charges, as well as a third related count alleging insubordination. He could be dismissed from the department and also faces possible criminal charges from the district attorney’s office.

This is the version of the shooting that Kelley initially described, according to Marlow:

The officer said he fired two shots in rapid succession as Herrera charged him from a distance of about eight feet. After he fired, Herrera turned and ran, and Kelley chased him to the rear of a four-unit apartment complex near 30th Street and Kenwood Avenue.

Kelley said Herrera attempted to scale a concrete wall there, but then turned and charged again, swinging the police baton wildly. Kelley said he fired a third shot, and Herrera retreated, jumping over the wall. Herrera’s body was found behind the wall about an hour later.

When faced with the results of the autopsy, which showed that Herrera had been shot in the back, Kelley initially stuck to his story of self-defense, Marlow testified. But after about two hours of questioning, the officer admitted lying about much of the episode, the detective said.

Kelley said he was not completely truthful at first, because he feared he might be implicated “. . . and he didn’t want his career mired by an out-of-policy shooting,” Marlow testified. “He said he was sorry he shot the guy in the back and that he didn’t mean to.”

Later in his interview with Marlow, Kelley said he was angered by the altercation with Herrera and described the shooting as a “natural reaction,” Marlow testified.

According to Marlow, Kelley insisted that his description of the first shot was correct: that he fired as the screaming Herrera raised the baton overhead and was about to swing it down upon him.

Kelley insisted that he saw Herrera’s face clearly and was aiming at his chest when he fired the first round, Marlow said.

However, the officer admitted that as Herrera began to run away, he rose to a crouched, two-handed shooting stance and fired a second shot, Marlow said.

One of those first two bullets--it has never been determined which--struck Herrera, who stumbled, according to Kelley, but continued to run.

Marlow said Kelley told him that he pursued Herrera around the corner and behind the apartments. There, Kelley found Herrera against the wall “in a semi-crouched position, making guttural sounds.”

Kelley said that Herrera did not advance on him. Nonetheless, fearful that Herrera might be armed, Kelley shot a third time, Marlow testified.

“‘I just fired one round at him. He wasn’t doing anything,”’ Marlow quoted Kelley as saying.

The ranking officer presiding over Kelley’s board of rights tribunal, Capt. Robert J. Blanchard, asked Marlow if Kelley might not have been confused and in shock from the shooting when he offered his first version of the incident.

“No sir,” Marlow responded. “He wasn’t confused. He just lied. That’s what he told me.”

Kelley is expected to take the stand today in his own defense as his hearing enters its third day. However, the board ruled Tuesday that those proceedings will be closed to the public to protect Kelley’s constitutional rights against potential self-incrimination.