Murder Allegation : Court Ultimatum Orders Lawyer to Prove or Drop Suit

A federal judge on Monday said she will dismiss a lawsuit accusing three Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies of killing a woman unless evidence is presented supporting the allegation within 90 days.

But Stephen Yagman, an attorney for the suit’s plaintiff, told U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer that the Los Angeles Police Department is withholding evidence in the case while it investigates the death of Catherine Braley, 26, of Van Nuys.

The victim’s mother, Mary Postma of Van Nuys, filed suit March 30 alleging that the deputies killed her daughter, whose body was discovered Jan. 15 in a parking lot in the 8100 block of Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys. Braley had been strangled and beaten, police said.

The deputies have denied involvement in the killing, and police repeatedly have said the deputies are not suspects.

“We have to have some evidence” to permit the case to continue, Pfaelzer told Yagman during a hearing in U.S. District Court on a motion by Carol Ann Hummer, the deputies’ attorney, to have the case dismissed.

Lawyer’s Request Denied

Pfaelzer denied a request by Yagman that he be allowed one year to gather evidence in the case.

“The lives of these officers are very much affected by this,” the judge said.

Yagman said he cannot gain access to some of the evidence he needs to support Postma’s claims until police conclude their investigation.

“The LAPD didn’t file this case, you did,” Pfaelzer said. “You have 90 days to produce something. Otherwise, we are permitting these officers to be accused of a very brutal murder. . . . This is a brutal complaint.”

Yagman replied: “It was a brutal murder.”

Deputies Robert Waters, Robert Mallon and Michael Turner are named as defendants in the suit.

The suit alleges that Braley, a department store cashier, left a bar called The Hunter with the deputies after an evening of drinking Jan 14. The suit claims the deputies killed Braley after she refused to have sex with them. Braley’s body was mutilated in an effort to confuse investigators, the suit alleges.

In court documents filed with the suit, Mallon acknowledged leaving the bar with Braley about 11:30 p.m., having consensual sex with her and then dropping her off in the 8000 block of Langdon Avenue, a block from where her body was found.

Yagman said after the hearing that he plans to subpoena material collected by police during their investigation.

“And when they don’t comply,” he said, “I’ll ask the court to compel them.”

The suit, filed under the federal Civil Rights Act, seeks $10 million in damages from the three deputies.