Man Confessed Galanter Attack, Officer Testifies

The man accused of slashing the throat of Los Angeles City Council member Ruth Galanter on May 6 admitted attacking her three days later and said he tried to kill himself afterward, a police detective testified Monday.

Mark Allen Olds, 28, told police interrogators that his memory of the attack itself was “fuzzy,” but “he knew that he had done something very bad, that he had injured someone very badly, because he had blood all over him,” Detective Marvin Engquist said at a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

“He became depressed. He knew he had hurt this lady, and that he did it by himself,” Engquist testified that the defendant told him.

But after cutting his arm a couple of times in a suicide attempt, the defendant realized that “he didn’t have the wherewithal” to take his own life and surrendered instead, the detective added.

Olds, who lived across the street from Galanter in Venice, was ordered Monday to stand trial in Superior Court on attempted murder and burglary charges, based on his statement and testimony that five of his fingerprints were found in her house.

Prosecutors say they will seek to show that the defendant acted with premeditation. If a jury agrees, Olds could be sentenced to life in prison. Otherwise, he faces a maximum sentence of 12 years.

Olds’ attorney, James M. Epstein, conceded outside the courtroom that his client was responsible for the attack but said that it will be impossible to prove that Olds intended to kill Galanter, as is required for an attempted-murder conviction.

Epstein said he will also try to show that Olds was high on drugs during the assault.

Speaking in a soft, hoarse voice, Galanter, who was hospitalized for seven weeks as a result of the predawn attack and continues to walk with a halting gait, calmly described how she was awakened from a deep sleep by the sounds of an intruder who had gained entry by cutting a hole in a rear-door screen.

Prevented from reaching the alarm by her bed by “a hand that came down on the back of my head,” she suddenly “felt a knife going into my neck,” Galanter testified.

She was unable to see her assailant’s face in the darkness, she told the court. She added that she could not recognize Olds from the neighborhood.

Showing Judge David M. Horwitz two six-inch scars on either side of her neck, she said her damaged vocal chords will require further medical treatment.

Asked to describe her health, she said she is still recovering.

“I am not able to do the job I was elected to do at my full capacity,” said Galanter, who won a June 2 runoff election. “I’m very weak, and it hurts--my throat hurts.”

In his May 9 interview with police, Olds said he had been using PCP and cocaine the day before the attack, Engquist testified. Armed with a four-inch paring knife, he crossed the street “with the intention of robbing” Galanter’s house, the detective said the suspect told him.

Alarm Sounded

Olds remembered entering Galanter’s bedroom but could not recall what happened immediately afterward “because he panicked when the alarm went off,” according to his statement.

Seeking unsuccessfully to have Olds’ statement excluded from the trial, Epstein charged that police, through “gross negligence,” had prevented him from blocking the interrogation.

Taking the stand himself, Epstein said that as soon as he learned from Olds’ brother that the suspect had surrendered, he tried to contact his client. But he was not allowed to see or talk to him for nearly four hours, the attorney said.

At first, Epstein said, police at Pacific Division delayed telling him that Olds had been transferred to police headquarters downtown.

When they finally did, the attorney rushed to Parker Center. But by the time he was able to get a message to Engquist, the interrogation was over, Epstein testified.

Officer Testified

Sgt. Michael Mines, watch commander at Pacific Division that day, testified that he failed to relay Epstein’s message to the police officers transporting Olds because “I didn’t feel it was necessary.”

Arguing against Epstein’s motion to suppress the statement, Deputy Dist. Atty. Dale A. Davidson said, “I certainly can’t see any intentional misconduct.”

In ruling against Epstein, Horwitz said, “I see how frustrating it was for you . . . ,” but noted that Engquist himself was “totally unaware” that Epstein was trying to stop the interview.