Killings of Police: No on 67

The 1983 murder of Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Lawrence (Mike) Lavieri was particularly brutal. A suspect, Lionel F. Henry, had grabbed Lavieri’s revolver at a Carson gas station after he was ordered out of his car, then turned it on Lavieri and his partner. Despite his head wound, Lavieri pursued Henry into a vacant house, where Henry shot the deputy again and crushed his skull with the lid of a toilet tank. A jury found no premeditation and returned a verdict of second-degree murder. Henry was given the maximum prison term of 30 years to life but, under state law, could be eligible for parole after 13 years.

Outraged, Sheriff Sherman Block vowed to increase the penalties, in cases where premeditation cannot be proved, for anyone who kills a peace officer acting in the line of duty. His campaign has culminated in Proposition 67 on next Tuesday’s ballot, a measure that would raise the minimum penalty for the second-degree murder of a peace officer to 25 years, from the present minimum of 15, and would decree no time off for good behavior or participation in prison work programs.

However well-intentioned, Proposition 67 seems to us philosophically flawed, inconsistent with the sentence for first-degree murder and typical of the haphazard method in which sentencing standards have been pieced together in this state. The entire sentencing structure needs an overhaul.

Proposition 67’s sponsors insist that it would protect the state’s front-line law-enforcement officers, but we don’t understand how a longer sentence could possibly act as a deterrent if the crime wasn’t premeditated. Typically, second-degree murder is charged when the crime occurs spontaneously, without planning, such as when an unarmed defendant seizes a weapon from someone else--not the sort of circumstances in which someone weighs the consequences of his act.

We are concerned, too, that the sponsors are putting this before the voters when there is no compelling need. As a practical matter, parole boards do not grant parole to convicts who kill peace officers the moment they become eligible; people like Henry may be eligible for parole in a shockingly short time under the current system, but they are not actually going free.

By increasing this penalty in isolation, Proposition 67 would lead to some strange anomalies. It would mean, for example, that the second-degree murder of a peace officer would be punished more harshly than some first-degree murders--because those convicted of first-degree murder could get time off for good behavior and, if sentenced to the minimum 25 years in prison, would be eligible for parole after 17 years. It also makes no sense to deny some second-degree murderers the chance to benefit from prison work-credit programs, removing their incentive to learn skills that might eventually help them in the world outside prison.

Californians ought to be grateful to all the brave officers, like Mike Lavieri, who put their lives on the line every day for their fellow citizens, but there are better ways to show their gratitude--with pay increases, for example--than this ill-advised ballot measure. Vote No on Proposition 67.