Escondido : D.A. Won’t Seek Death Penalty in Slaying of Doctor

The San Diego County district attorney’s office will not seek the maximum penalty of execution or life imprisonment without parole in the case of Steven Alan Larsen, who is accused of shooting an Escondido physician in his office, a deputy district attorney said Thursday.

The maximum penalty is sought only in murder cases involving special circumstances specified in the California death penalty law, including when a murderer kills after “lying in wait” for a victim. Although witnesses have said a gunman waited in the Palomar Medical Group offices before shooting gastroenterologist Craig R. Blundell, prosecutor George Beall said the assailant was not “lying in wait” before the July 28 shooting.

“It’s just not an appropriate case for the death penalty,” Beall said. “There was no independent felonious conduct to bring about special circumstances. . . . The conduct that he (the assailant) engaged in was no more than coming into contact with the doctor to carry out the act.”

Larsen’s attorney, Bart Sheela Jr., agreed that the “lying in wait” standard does not apply.

“It doesn’t fit the facts of the case,” Sheela said. “I think lying in wait ordinarily involves dry-gulching, to use the old Western term . . . surreptitiously hiding out and that sort of thing. I don’t think it means simply waiting around for the guy to come out.”

Sheela added: “I don’t think there was much dispute that the man was insane at the time of the killing.”

Dr. Robert Peacock, Blundell’s partner designated to speak for Palomar employees, has said that nurses heard Larsen complain about stomach ailments while waiting to see Blundell.

Other special circumstances in the California penal code that allow prosecutors to seek the maximum penalty include murders that involve killing a witness; a prior murder conviction; multiple killings; torture; killing for financial motives; use of a bomb or explosive; an attempt to escape from custody; killing a police, fire or federal officer, and other crimes that are “heinous, atrocious or cruel.”

Sentences for first- and second-degree murder range from 15 years to life in prison.

A preliminary hearing for Larsen will be Sept. 22.