Local News in Brief : Dist. Atty. Suspends Errant Prosecutor

A Los Angeles prosecutor has been suspended for having misrepresented evidence to obtain a first-degree murder conviction in 1985.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wendy Widlus has been suspended with pay pending a final resolution of the matter, sources in the district attorney’s office said.

Widlus’ action during the trial drew a scathing rebuke last October from the state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles.

During the murder trial of Titus Lee Brown Jr., Widlus told a jury that the victim had been killed during the course of a robbery in South-Central Los Angeles, making the defendant eligible for first-degree murder. The jury did return such a verdict.

But in fact, the items supposedly robbed from victim Israel Guzman Rangel actually never had been taken and had been returned to his family by personnel at the hospital where he was taken.

The day after the jury verdict, Widlus, 36, disclosed to the trial judge, William R. Pounders, that she had concealed information about the case. The judge then reduced the verdict to second-degree murder and notified the State Bar of the incident.