Judge in Murder Trial Orders SIS Records

The judge in the murder case against the lone survivor of a secretive Los Angeles police squad’s shooting of four men outside a McDonald’s restaurant has ordered police to turn over extensive records relating to the controversial unit.

San Fernando Municipal Court Judge Stephen A. Marcus issued the order Tuesday in response to a defense attorney’s request to see documents relating to the police department’s 19-member Special Investigations Section, or SIS. The prosecutor in the case said the volume of records being requested by defense attorney Howard C. Waco was unprecedented in a trial that involved a single defendant.

Among the documents being sought are police reports and other records related to all past SIS-involved shootings. The documents also include psychiatric records of SIS squad members and records of civil lawsuits filed against the squad.

Waco, who is defending Alfredo Olivas, 19, said he needed the documents to show that the members of the police squad, and not his client, were responsible for the deaths of three men seen robbing a McDonald’s restaurant in Sunland on Feb. 12. Marcus said he would review the records privately and determine whether they are relevant to the defense’s case.

Nine SIS members fired at least 35 rounds at a car in which the four men were riding. Olivas of Hollywood has been charged with robbery and three counts of murder under the legal theory that holds lawbreakers responsible for deaths that occur during commission of crimes. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Deputy City Atty. Linda K. Lefkowitz, representing the police department, agreed to turn over the documents. Meanwhile, prosecutors on Wednesday said they plan to charge Olivas with at least three additional robbery counts stemming from 10 previous robberies in which he allegedly took part.