Local News in Brief : Mother of Boy Killed in 1985 Shooting Dies

Barbara Redman, the mother of a Calabasas teen-ager who was shot to death by a schoolmate in front of the Redman home last year, has died in a local hospital after an operation for an undisclosed illness, relatives said Tuesday.

Redman, 42, whose son, Steven, was shot to death in 1985, unsuccessfully pleaded with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office last year to reinstate charges that could have meant the death penalty or life imprisonment for Robert M. Rosenkrantz, who killed her son.

Rosenkrantz, 19, was convicted June 9 of second-degree murder for shooting 17-year-old Steven Redman with an Uzi semi-automatic rifle. Rosenkrantz was sentenced to 17 years to life in state prison and was sent to the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.

According to trial testimony, Rosenkrantz was angry because Steven Redman had spied on him, then told friends he was a homosexual.

An attorney for Barbara Redman said she did not know what will be done with a wrongful death lawsuit filed on her behalf June 20 in Van Nuys Superior Court. The suit seeks an unspecified sum from, among others, Rosenkrantz, his parents and a Northridge store that sold him the rifle. Barbara Redman, who died Sunday, was the sole plaintiff in the lawsuit.