LOS ANGELES : Reiner Asks High Court to Review Du Case Ruling

Prosecutors Monday asked the state Supreme Court to review a lower court decision upholding a probationary sentence given to Korean-born grocer Soon Ja Du in the killing of Latasha Harlins.

In a 30-page document, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner asked the Supreme Court to overturn the 2nd District Court of Appeal decision and force Superior Court Judge Joyce A. Karlin to resentence Du, who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for killing Harlins, 15. The lower court jurists unanimously refused the district attorney’s initial request April 21. Monday was the last day that prosecutors could file the request for review.

“They waited until today because they were working on the brief. They wanted to have it prepared and then reviewed,” said Sandi Gibbons, the district attorney’s spokeswoman. But Bob Stiens, Karlin’s spokesman in her reelection campaign, said the decision to file the appeal Monday, rather than earlier, was “a desperate act” by Reiner in his own reelection campaign.