Judge Doubles Suspect’s Bail in Hospital Shooting Case : Courts: Fairview employee’s ‘potential danger to the public’ cited. Officials verify that the man had been harassed at work.

Warning of a “potential danger to the public,” a prosecutor persuaded a judge Thursday to double bail to $500,000 for the murder suspect in this week’s shooting spree at a state hospital for the mentally retarded.

Michael E. Rahming, a hospital employee, appeared in court for the first time to answer charges that he killed one supervisor and wounded two others, apparently believing he had been the target of racial discrimination.

The public defender appointed to represent the 38-year-old Long Beach resident said he will explore “the problems (Rahming) was having at his employment, how that was affecting him,” to determine whether an insanity defense will prove his best--if not only--legal tactic.

Meanwhile, officials at the Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa acknowledged that Rahming, a painter there since 1988, filed at least one claim of harassment that was verified by investigators, leading to the disciplining of a supervisor.

Although Rahming’s scheduled arraignment was put off until Aug. 16 at the request of his lawyer, Deputy Dist. Atty. Randy Pawloski filed formal charges that included murder, two counts of attempted murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a crime.

The district attorney’s office did not file a special circumstance allegation, needed to seek the death penalty. And Pawloski said it seems unlikely that his office will do so.

Authorities allege that Rahming shot two of his supervisors in the facility’s paint shop Tuesday morning, killing one, then drove less than half a mile to the administration building and shot the hospital director after a struggle.

Both survivors were released from the hospital Wednesday with head wounds.

During a troubled tenure at the hospital, Rahming charged repeatedly that he was the victim of discrimination and harassment by co-workers and supervisors because he was black, according to friends and grievances filed with the hospital.

Officials at the hospital have denied previously that there was any problem with racial relations at the facility. But affirmative action officer Larry Heads said in an interview Thursday that investigators there, probing a racism complaint by Rahming nearly two years ago, found that an unnamed supervisor did in fact “retaliate” against Rahming.

“We felt that the supervisor had not acted in accordance with hospital policies,” Heads said.

None of the men shot were implicated in the earlier complaint, Heads said. But he would not give details on the “retaliation” or say how the supervisor was disciplined.

Another discrimination complaint filed by Rahming in April, 1990, was rejected as meritless by facility administrators.

At Thursday’s court hearing, which was crowded with press people, several Fairview officials and a few supporters of the defendant, Rahming said little.

Clad in a blue jail uniform, he answered in a low voice as Orange County Municipal Judge Richard F. Toohey asked him his birth date and whether he could afford a lawyer. Rahming said he could not, and Toohey appointed Deputy Public Defender David C. Biggs to represent him.

The defendant appeared confused for a moment, staring blankly ahead as Toohey asked whether he gave up his right to have a preliminary hearing within 10 days on the charges against him. After a quick glance at Biggs, Rahming said he did.

Rahming had been in custody in Costa Mesa Jail on $250,000 bail since his arrest by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy at his home about an hour after the shootings. Prosecutor Pawloski acknowledged that this would be the standard bail in a murder, but he asked the judge to double it given the unusual nature of the Fairview case and the “potential danger to the public” posed by Rahming.

Without argument in court, Toohey set bail at $500,000.

Biggs said he would seek a hearing for a reduced bail later in the month but, in speaking with reporters outside the courtroom, he said he understood the prosecutor’s reasons for the increase.

“I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who are still concerned about their safety, and we don’t want to put any unnecessary fears in their minds,” he said.

The defense attorney met for about 45 minutes with Rahming on Wednesday and, while declining to discuss details of the conversation, said of the defendant: “He’s very concerned. He’s very reserved.”

Biggs would not comment directly on the merits of the charges against Rahming.

“Almost all my information comes from . . . the news media,” he said. “It’s really early.”

Biggs said he plans to investigate reports that Rahming believed he had been harassed and discriminated against by his white supervisors at work. And he said that such harassment could come into play in a possible insanity defense for his client.

Suggesting another legal strategy the defense may pursue in the case, Biggs said he found it “kind of odd” that “supposedly confidential” personnel records on Rahming’s psychiatric history have become widely publicized in the media.

These records show that Fairview officials, worried about Rahming’s “erratic” behavior on the job, had him checked out by a psychiatrist last year and that some of the medical reports that came back from that analysis suggested a potential for violence. However, he was allowed to continue working.

Biggs said he presumed that the hospital had been the source of the personnel records but would not say how he planned to use this issue in the defense.

Officials also said Thursday that funeral services for Allen Motis, the facilities supervisor slain in Tuesday’s attack at Fairview, will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Bonaventure Church, 16400 Springdale St., Huntington Beach.

A rosary will be at 7 p.m. Sunday at Peek Family Mortuary, 7801 Bolsa Ave., Westminster. And Fairview officials are planning a memorial service there for Motis as well, probably either Tuesday or Thursday.