Wary Van Nuys Bailiffs Pad the Robes of Justice With Bulletproof Vests

On a pleasant April afternoon, life at Van Nuys Courthouse appears normal. But there are reminders of what happened here.

Bailiffs wear bulletproof vests under their shirts. Deputy marshals stroll the hallways, watching those who come and go through the complex. Signs warn that anyone entering the courthouse is subject to search.

The Van Nuys courts have enjoyed 20 years of relative peace, but that has changed. Last month, a disgruntled man walked into one of these courtrooms just off Van Nuys Boulevard and started a gun battle. He wounded a bailiff and then was shot to death.

Last week, as things were returning to normal, the threat of violence rose again when bailiffs arrested a woman who was carrying a loaded pistol in her purse.

Judges and attorneys at the courthouse now realize that they work in a place that can become instantly, unpredictably dangerous. The bailiffs, entrusted with keeping peace in courtrooms, are on edge. One courthouse official described the mood as being “like going into an airport where there has been a rash of bombings.”

“All my friends have been calling to see if I’m OK,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Kimberly Bringgold. “They ask me, ‘Aren’t you scared to go to work?’ ”

Stark Remembrance

In a small office behind the municipal courts, John Riley sits with his feet up on the desk and talks easily about the shoot-out. Riley was the court reporter on the day that Jeremey Sigmond, a Sepulveda chiropractor who had been convicted of misdemeanor charges, walked into Division 116 with an automatic pistol and started firing.

“I took a couple of days off, and that’s it,” Riley said. “The county made an appointment for me to see a psychiatrist in Beverly Hills. He had me put together these little blocks. It was kind of fun.”

The recent turn of events at Van Nuys Courthouse has inspired the county Board of Supervisors to study security problems in all of Los Angeles’ courts. Almost immediately, the county provided $151,000 to equip bailiffs with portable radios and hand-held metal detectors.

There is talk by court and government officials of more extensive security measures, such as placing airport-like metal detectors at court entrances.

Some people at the Van Nuys courts said they had long expected violence. There was a stabbing in one of the hallways in 1982. Courtrooms, they said, are always at risk.

Yet just as many people who work in the complex seem to have been taken by surprise.

“We all became a little complacent and began to feel a little too secure before all this happened,” bailiff John Parks said.

No one was hit harder than the marshal’s office, which shares bailiff’s duties with the Sheriff’s Department. Both incidents at the courthouse involved deputy marshals.

One marshal’s bailiff has written a sign--warning that anyone entering the courtroom will be searched--in red ink and taped it to the door of his courtroom. Parks, in another courtroom, hasn’t gone that far. But whenever someone comes into Division 112, he takes a careful look.

“You can’t look like you’re going for your gun every time an old lady walks in the door,” the deputy marshal said. “But you have to watch who comes in. The quietest noise, anything that goes on in the courtroom . . . I’m aware of it.” Lt. Art Valenzuela kept a close eye on his men in the aftermath of the shoot-out. When Carmelita Kingsberry, of Pacoima, was arrested last week on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon into court, “it opened up an old wound,” he said.

A number of deputy marshals have suffered emotional trauma from these incidents, Valenzuela said, and the marshal’s office brought in psychologists to counsel the Van Nuys staff, including office secretaries. Valenzuela said he has seen a psychologist on his own.

The county is offering psychological help to court reporters and other courtroom staff as fears and concerns spread through the complex.

“It’s like a big family here,” Municipal Judge Kenneth Lee Chotiner said. “We all know each other, we know each other’s problems.”

Concerns have extended beyond the courthouse. Husbands and wives now worry about their loved ones who go off to work there.

“I think we are all infinitely more nervous,” said Alexander Rainof, a court interpreter. “I have two small children, and I have brought them to court to visit. I don’t think I’m going to do that anymore.”

As these people wait for government money to provide more security equipment in their workplace, the work of the court continues. A court reporter says she doesn’t think her job is any more dangerous than being a bank teller. Several jurors and witnesses interviewed hadn’t even heard about the shoot-out. Others said they trusted the bailiffs to protect them.

“You can’t let it affect the job you do, but you sure think about it,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Andy Diamond said. “We’re doing a lot of looking over our shoulders these days.”

Riley says he feels safer now than ever. Two weeks after the shooting, he comforted a judge who expressed fears about courtroom security.

‘I’m Your Insurance’

“I told him, ‘I’m your insurance. It’ll never happen again to me.’ ”

And the bailiffs say they are better at their work since the shoot-out.

“It’s ingrained in our job that after a while you get lax,” said Deputy Marshal Jim Allen, a 13-year-veteran. “You go through days and days with nothing happening and then, all of a sudden, you’re in an emergency situation.

“Now I think we’re a little more on edge and a little more alert.”

But Allen still won’t wear a bulletproof vest.

“It’s pretty uncomfortable,” he said. “I guess it’s better than being dead, but no one thinks they’re going to be the one who gets shot.”