Reiner to Oppose Plea Bargains for Violent Crimes : Courts: District attorney wants the maximum terms imposed. His plan to keep track of sentences imposed by judges is criticized as intimidating.

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner Wednesday unveiled a new policy under which his office will strongly oppose judges’ attempts to lighten their caseloads by allowing those accused of violent crimes to plea bargain to lesser charges. As part of an effort to make the courts more “accountable,” Reiner said his office will request that judges impose maximum sentences and will keep track of the sentences meted out by jurists, making that information public.

“If we see a pattern of sentencing (below the maximum) then we have a problem with the judge,” Reiner told reporters.

California law already restricts plea bargaining in many cases of serious crime. But a Times study last year found that deputy district attorneys routinely offered defendants shorter sentences for pleading guilty. Of 1,800 cases examined in the study, 98% were settled by plea bargains.

Reiner’s announcement drew strong criticism from defense lawyers who charged that it would further clog courts and amounts to a policy of intimidation of judges who face reelection.

Reiner, who is gearing up his campaign for a third term next year, said his new policy is not an attempt to play to crime-weary voters. He also denied that his plan to track sentencing records is intended to intimidate judges.

“As a matter of sound public policy,” he said, violent crime and crimes committed with weapons should bring nothing less than a maximum sentence. His office, he said, also will refuse to drop specific charges and special allegations that can lead to stiffer sentences in exchange for guilty pleas.

“The reason is that the overwhelming number of armed and violent criminals are recidivists who will repeat their crimes immediately upon release from prison,” he said.

The policy is to go into effect Monday and will affect up to 30% of the 70,000 felony cases filed in the county annually.

Reiner acknowledged it will likely result in many defendants accused of armed or violent crimes opting to take their chances with a jury--a situation that is likely to worsen existing court logjams.

A spokeswoman for the state’s largest association of defense lawyers blasted the policy and Reiner.

“This is infuriating,” said Renee Brouillette, executive director of the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. “First, it’s crazy to expect the D.A. to be clairvoyant and capable of knowing what a judge’s motivation is in a plea-bargain situation.”

Brouillette also called the policy “hypocritical,” noting that Reiner has repeatedly stated his intention to speed up the criminal justice process.

Assistant Public Defender Michael Judge said tracking jurists to make sure they adhere to Reiner’s policy is “an attempt to politically intimidate judges who might disagree with his view of things.”

He also expressed concern that an increase in trials would burden the already overwhelmed system.

“If judges were to uniformly and monolithically act as one and march in lock step, then the system would have to find some other place to give because there are limited resources in the system,” he said. “It could be that cases outside the policy would receive more lenient treatment to get them out of the way so cases inside the policy could go to trial.”

Reiner’s announcement came one day after Ricardo Torres, presiding judge of the Superior Court, told the Board of Supervisors that he intends to proceed with plans to eliminate a pilot program under which three downtown courtrooms operate at night to relieve heavy caseloads.