Ministers Denounce Suspects’ Treatment in Slaying of Pastor : Courts: The initial decision to grant bail to the two white teen-agers is branded as ‘lethal racism.’

A group of ministers and community activists from the northeast San Fernando Valley on Monday angrily denounced the initial granting of $20,000 bail to two teen-agers charged in the shooting death of a Pacoima pastor.

The ministers said the granting of bail last week to the two suspects, who are both white, in the death of Carl White, 54, the black minister of the Apostolic Temple Church, was “lethal racism.” White was shot to death at his Chatsworth home July 28, allegedly during a dispute over a minor traffic accident.

The unusually low bail for murder charges was set Thursday for Dana Singer, 18, and Phil Dimenno, 19, both of Northridge, when police and prosecutors thought that the suspects had no prior criminal records. Both youths lived with their parents and were not a threat to flee or endanger the public, officials said.

However, the next day, police discovered the pair had allegedly used stolen credit cards in the past and both had been cited earlier this year when they were caught trespassing at a city park while armed.

The low bail order was vacated and both suspects are now being held without bail pending their Aug. 13 arraignment.

Twelve members of the Ministers’ Fellowship of the Greater San Fernando Valley held a press conference Monday to criticize the Los Angeles police, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and San Fernando Municipal Commissioner Richard L. Brand, who accepted the bail recommendation of the prosecutor’s office.

“The life of Pastor White was treated with cheapness in the shallow background investigation done by the Police Department,” said the Rev. James V. Lyles, president of the ministers’ group. “The D.A.’s office acted with total disregard for life in recommending such low bail, and Commissioner Brand committed utter contempt for Pastor White, his family and this community by accepting such recommendation from the D.A.

“The rationale for low bail is laced with lethal racism. If two black men had wantonly and in cold blood killed a white man, they would not have been let loose.”

The ministers said they will ask Board of Supervisors and the American Civil Liberties Union to investigate the incident.

“There was a total breakdown, step by step,” said Fred Taylor, a community activist who took part in the press conference. “Obviously, the entire system worked for the betterment of the two alleged murderers.”

The ministers said the suspects should never have received bail, even if they had no prior record as authorities initially thought.

The district attorney’s office denied that the suspects received better treatment because of their race.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Billy D. Webb, chief prosecutor in the San Fernando office, said he made the decision to allow the bail amount to be set at $20,000 because of numerous reasons regarding the suspects and the crime.

“We never discussed the color of the victim nor the defendants,” Webb said. “That had nothing to do with it.”

Webb and Deputy Dist. Atty. Leland B. Harris said that at the time bail was being considered, prosecutors knew of no prior record of criminal activity by the suspects. Both teen-agers have long-term ties to the community and were not believed to be dangerous. The prosecutors were also faced with the perplexing motive for the crime.

“It was based on stupidity more than anything else,” Webb said.

Prosecutors decided to deviate from the routine schedule used by the district attorney’s office and allow bail to be set. They said the suspects’ attorneys played no part in the decision.

It was only after police turned up a record of a misdemeanor citation issued to Singer in May by a park ranger that authorities had evidence of any prior criminal activity involving the suspects.

“We then took appropriate action,” Harris said.

Police declined to comment on the ministers’ charges, but prosecutors said that detectives did not find the citation issued to Singer during routine computer checks for criminal records.

“They were still investigating because the reason for this it was so bizarre,” Webb said. “They kept digging and came up with the additional information about them.”