Suspect Faces Two Charges in Stabbing of Galanter

A former Venice gang member, described by Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner as a “druggie,” was charged Tuesday with attempted murder and burglary in connection with the stabbing attack last week on City Council candidate Ruth Galanter.

Reiner revealed that “multiple” fingerprints and shoe prints found inside Galanter’s Venice house were matched to Mark Allen Olds, 27, who turned himself in last weekend.

It is not yet known whether anything was taken from the house in the attack last Wednesday or whether the 46-year-old urban planner was sexually assaulted before she was stabbed in the throat, Reiner said.

Echoing Police Chief Daryl F. Gates’ remarks to the City Council and reporters Monday, Reiner said the evidence against Olds is “conclusive,” even though Galanter, who remains hospitalized, has not been asked to identify him from a photograph.

Evidence Called Clear

“She may or may not be able to identify her assailant,” Reiner said. “But that is hardly necessary in this case, given the physical evidence of the prints and the shoe print and the like. It is very clear that this is the person who was in there and cut her throat.”

He added, “Galanter is a victim of the drug problem today by someone who broke into her house to steal because he’s a druggie.”

While declining to elaborate further on the evidence, Reiner said Olds incurred scratches all over his body when he entered the Galanter home through a broken window. Later, however, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Kuhnert, who is supervising Olds’ prosecution, said no window in the house had been broken.

“It is our understanding that at time of booking, he had scratches on his body,” Kuhnert said. “Whether he got them on entering the house or in the struggle with the victim, I don’t know.”

If convicted of the charges, Olds would face a maximum sentence of 12 years, unless prosecutors can show that the attempt on Galanter’s life was premeditated, which could result in a life term.

Pleads Not Guilty

“We will have to see how the evidence develops,” Kuhnert said. “It could result in our requesting a jury to be instructed on premeditated attempted murder, as well as attempted murder in the commission of a burglary.”

At his arraignment Tuesday afternoon, Olds, who is being held without bail, pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a preliminary hearing was set for June 1 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

His attorney, James M. Epstein, asked Judge Glenette Blackwell to impose a gag order on both sides of the case “as a matter of fairness and equity” because of the previous statements by Gates and Reiner, which he bitterly criticized as “entirely improper.”

“Ira Reiner should know better,” Epstein said outside the courtroom. “ . . . You don’t try your cases in the press.”

Blackwell said he could file a written motion seeking the gag order and scheduled a hearing on the request for Friday.

The judge also declined to set bail for Olds, despite Epstein’s assertion that “no bail in this case is outrageous.” He said his client had never been convicted of a violent crime and has lived in the Venice community his whole life.

But Blackwell said she regarded Olds as a danger to the community.

Meanwhile, UCLA Medical Center spokeswoman Laura Butler said Galanter, who underwent five hours of surgery last week, is in fair condition and is continuing to recover but is having problems with her voice, which was described as “audibly hoarse.”

“It is impossible to assess the long-range effects of the hoarseness,” she said.

Butler said Galanter may be released from the hospital by the weekend.