Holdup Charges Dropped After Death of Victim
Robbery charges were dismissed Wednesday in a Van Nuys court at the preliminary hearing of a 20-year-old Westlake Village man because the alleged victim died last week from cancer.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Baron said he was unable to proceed on the two purse-snatching robbery counts against Mark Daniel Klein because of insufficient evidence.
Beverly Riley, 59, of Simi Valley identified Klein in police photos and a videotaped lineup as the man who took her purse Jan. 4 at the Promenade Mall in Woodland Hills, Baron said. But she died last Thursday night, on the eve of the original date for the preliminary hearing.
The second robbery count involved another woman at a supermarket in Woodland Hills. But that woman could not make a positive identification and prosecutors said the case hinged on Riley’s testimony.
Van Nuys Municipal Judge Judith Meisels Ashmann dismissed the robbery counts but ordered Klein to stand trial on a charge of possessing a firearm while on probation for a felony.
When he was arrested Jan. 8, Klein, who was on probation for a narcotics conviction, had a gun in his car, Baron said.
If convicted, Klein could be sentenced to three years in state prison, Baron said.
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