Man Gets 10 Years in Shooting

A Hollywood man was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for his part in a robbery attempt that left an off-duty Los Angeles police officer seriously wounded and an accomplice dead.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge John H. Major sentenced Arvin Peter Mani, 20, to the maximum term for attempted second-degree murder, one of two charges to which he pleaded guilty after prosecutors dropped three other counts.

Major said that, even though Officer Stacy Lim was shot by another of the four alleged participants, he gave the maximum sentence because Mani planned the robbery attempt. The group spotted Lim’s 1988 Ford Bronco as she was headed home and decided to follow her home to try to steal the vehicle, police have said.

“Mr. Mani is the fellow who took these young people on this hunt to find somebody to do something to, and they did it,” Major said. “They looked around in Highland Park and didn’t find anything they’d like to steal, and they saw this victim, who is alive today by some miracle.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan M. Speer said Wednesday that Lim, who was shot in the chest and narrowly escaped death in the June 9 shoot-out, has returned home from the hospital and may eventually be able to return to duty.

Police said Mani and three juveniles followed Lim from the Highland Park area to her house in Santa Clarita, about 30 miles away, hoping to steal the vehicle and her purse, police said. Mani remained in his car while a 13-year-old girl and Joel Garcia Valenzuela, 16, of Highland Park, got out to rob Lim, police said.

Lim began to get out of her car holding her gun, which she routinely carries, when Valenzuela opened fire, perhaps because he saw the officer’s weapon, police said. Lim fired back, striking Valenzuela in the chest, killing him instantly .

The juveniles, who police said were gang members, told investigators later that they had been looking for cars to steal in Highland Park when they noticed Lim’s Bronco and began following it.

Lim, who has been with the Police Department for two years, had just left the department’s Northeast station when the youths began following her.

Mani also pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit robbery, for which he was sentenced Wednesday to one year, which he can serve concurrently with the 10-year attempted murder sentence. The district attorney’s office had filed a count of attempted first-degree murder against Mani but reduced it to attempted second-degree murder because it could not be proven that Mani intended to kill Lim.

Two girls, ages 13 and 14, who were passengers in Mani’s car are awaiting trial in Central Juvenile Court on charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit robbery, attempted robbery, attempted grand theft auto and assault with a firearm, Speer said. An 11-year-old boy was released without charges.

Mani’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Alan Budde, asked that his client receive a lesser sentence because he had a clean record and because he feels remorseful over the shooting.

According to court records, Mani sent Lim a letter after the shooting in which he said: “Get well soon. I hope you are feeling better. I am sincerely sorry for what happened to you. I know you must have gone through torture and hell, just like I am now. I never thought anything like this could happen to me or anybody. . . .”