Jurors Weigh War of Roses Between Law and Vendors

Karla and Erika Kaufman were hoping to pick up a little spare change when they toted a bucket of fresh-cut flowers to a Woodland Hills street corner the evening before Easter in 1986.

The sisters couldn’t believe their good fortune.

On what is traditionally a lucrative day for flower sales, the intersection of Valley Circle Boulevard and the off-ramp of the westbound Ventura Freeway--considered by petal peddlers to be the hottest spot in the West Valley--had yet to be claimed by competitors.

Dollar signs flashed in their eyes.

But, within an hour, Karla, 20, could see only pavement, as she was wrestled to the ground in a brawl with a California State Police officer, suffering a broken nose.

Erika, herself restrained from behind by a vacationing Chicago-area deputy sheriff, watched as her sister’s face began to bruise as Karla sat in the patrol car with her hands cuffed behind her back.

“All I could think was, ‘She’s going to drop dead,’ ” said Erika, 28.

Night at Sybil Brand

How did these two Woodland Hills women, who described themselves in an interview as “legal-oriented kids,” wind up spending a night at Sybil Brand Institute, the county jail for women? And prosecuted on five misdemeanor counts each, including battery on a peace officer?

That all depends on whose version of events one believes. The sorting out will be done by a Van Nuys Municipal Court jury, which began deliberating the case Thursday after three days of testimony in the courtroom of Judge Terry Smerling.

One thing is clear: the Kaufmans’ troubles stemmed from selling flowers without a permit.

Their father, San Fernando Valley lawyer Sheldon M. Kaufman, said he believes the root of the problem is that few Californians have ever heard of the State Police, a group of 340 sworn officers charged with protecting state property and the occupants therein.

“They thought they had met up with the Hillside Strangler,” Sheldon Kaufman said, referring to the notorious killers who posed as police officers.

“Erika just kept yelling out, ‘This is bogus, this is bogus, he’s not a real cop.’ ”

Officer’s Version

Deputy City Atty. Michael J. Finkle, who is prosecuting the pair, said a different scenario emerged from his evidence, which had Karla belligerently resisting arrest and cursing Officer Martin J. Olson.

In his closing argument to the jury, Finkle noted that Olson said he asked the two for identification and told them to leave.

“Now what ‘Hillside Strangler’ is going to do that?” Finkle asked. “What’s wrong with this picture?”

Olson went to the scene after a woman who lives in a house owned by Caltrans alongside the freeway complained that two girls were trespassing on state property and causing traffic tie-ups among motorists braking to buy buds.

After they refused to leave, Olson said, he started to arrest them but was attacked by Karla, who he said scratched and kicked him, ripping his badge from his shirt and leaving his body bruised. Olson was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital; Karla was treated at Sybil Brand.

When Karla resisted, Olson testified, Erika tried to intervene and was restrained by a passing off-duty deputy from Cook County.

Defense attorney Howard E. Beckler noted Olson’s size at 6 feet, 190 pounds, and asked the jury how much resistance 5-foot Karla could have mustered.

“She sure as blazes didn’t batter that officer,” Beckler said in closing arguments.

The two sisters asserted that Olson never identified himself and did not tell them they were under arrest.

“I had never heard of the State Police,” Erika said. “The car looked so fake. It had stick-on lettering and there was no state seal.

“He was a scary looking man, with droopy eyes. I thought he was a nut and was going to get us.”

The two added that their friends have been selling flowers for years without incident and count several Los Angeles police officers among their customers.

Variety of Charges

They are charged with unauthorized street vending, resisting arrest, resisting an executive officer, refusing to leave property and battery.

Their attorney urged the jury to acquit the women of all charges, including illegal vending. A city ordinance forbids the street sale of goods, wares or merchandise without a permit, Beckler said, but he questioned whether the statute was intended to encompass flowers.

“Merchandise? Is that what a flower is?” he asked the jury. “A flower is a living thing. It’s nature’s way or God’s way of painting the earth.”

Sheldon Kaufman said he raised his daughters in a strict fashion and considers them law-abiding. In fact, the two sisters are co-owners of a business that serves legal papers in court and law-enforcement cases.

“If they had called me from Sybil Brand and said, ‘Dad, we’re in on a possession charge,’ I’d say, ‘Let ‘em rot.’ They’d still be there today.

“But when they said battery on a police officer arising from a flower sale . . . .”