Supervisors Form Panel to Review Court Security After Woman Is Stabbed

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday formed a task force to study courthouse security because a woman was stabbed Monday--allegedly by her estranged husband--outside the Van Nuys Courthouse.

Supervisor Ed Edelman asked that the task force include the sheriff and the county marshal, and that its report be ready for the board in a month.

He said he was particularly concerned because the woman was on the courthouse grounds seeking a temporary restraining order against her husband at the time of the stabbing.

“People rightly demand and expect a heightened sense of security in and around our courts and criminal justice facilities,” Edelman said.

Shirley Wells, 33, of North Hollywood remained in stable condition Tuesday at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Panorama City, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Police said her estranged husband stabbed her five times in the chest and once in the abdomen with a steak knife as she walked from the courthouse to a bungalow for a joint court appearance with him.

Bailiffs wrestled the knife from her attacker, identified by police as Alvin Jack Wells, 35, of Reseda.

The case had been reassigned to the bungalow courtroom because maintenance workers were removing asbestos from one of the two rooms in the main Superior Court building.

Unlike the main courthouse, the bungalow does not have metal detectors.

In calling for better security at the courthouse, Kenneth Carline, Shirley Wells’ brother-in-law, speculated Monday that her husband “went and got the knife when he learned . . . that the court was going to be in one of those outside buildings where there’s no security.”

Alvin Wells was arraigned Tuesday on a charge of attempted murder, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gloria M. Mas said.

Wells, who pleaded innocent, was also charged with one count of assault with a deadly weapon, with a special allegation that he inflicted great bodily injury, she said.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled Aug. 15 at the Van Nuys Courthouse.

Wells was being held without bail.