Local News in Brief : 10 Charged Under Holiday Gunfire Law
After taking a second look at the cases of New Year’s Eve revelers arrested around Los Angeles County for ringing in 1989 with gunfire, prosecutors Wednesday filed felony charges against 10 people under a new law aimed at silencing the sometimes deadly practice.
The cases had been sent to the city attorney’s office for possible filing of lesser misdemeanor charges, but Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner directed prosecutors in his office to reconsider felony charges.
Reiner’s mandate came after published reports noted that prosecutors were not pressing the state law that took effect Jan. 1 and hiked penalties for gunfire celebrants to felonies.
The cases had been sent to the city attorney’s office--which prosecutes misdemeanors and city code violations--because none of the people arrested had criminal records and no injuries were reported.
A felony conviction could result in a sentence of between 16 months and three years in state prison.
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