Local News in Brief : ‘Rap Sheet’ Review

Los Angeles County supervisors, disturbed by a celebrated case in which a murder suspect with a criminal history was released on bail on a grand theft charge, Tuesday approved the recommendations of a judicial commission seeking ways to make it easier for judges and court commissioners to review a defendant’s arrest record.

The board, in a 3-0 vote, supported the findings of the county Commission on Judicial Procedures, which include requests to law enforcement agencies that they insert in case files “rap sheets” giving arrest histories--a practice that has been sporadic.

The lack of such information was blamed for the failure last October to hold Roland Norman Comtois on a grand theft charge. Comtois, who was later identified as the suspect in the kidnaping and shooting of two Chatsworth girls, had been released on $1,500 bail despite a lengthy criminal record that was unknown to either the judge or the district attorney.