No Stone Is Left Unturned in This D.A.’s Fight Against Crime

It is easy to see why folks in the San Fernando Valley and adjacent parts are increasingly fearful and frustrated by crime. The eight days from Oct. 10 through 17, for example, produced stories about child sexual assaults in Pacoima, a teen-ager shot to death in North Hills, a Glendale gang murder and another nearby homicide, a murder-suicide and separate stabbing death in North Hollywood, a drive-by killing in another part of the Valley, and more.

At times like these, however, it is useful to take note of those who are toiling in the trenches, so to speak, seriously at work trying to contain the problem. Shellie Samuels, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney working out of the Van Nuys office, is one of those people. Samuels is the county’s criminal prosecutor of the year.

She is the first woman and the first Valley-based D.A. to be so honored. Samuels is also a Valley native, born in Van Nuys and raised in Tarzana. She is a Taft High School graduate and has degrees from UCLA and Loyola Law School. Her work offers a fascinating glimpse into the intricacies of the local criminal courts and the increasing difficulties involved in building a successful case.

According to Robert L. Cohen, senior deputy at the Van Nuys prosecutor’s office, Samuels has gained 17 first-degree murder convictions in 27 homicide cases, with second-degree murder convictions in all but three of the rest. Those resulted in voluntary manslaughter convictions. “She is working with cases in which there is not an abundance of evidence, with witnesses who are often gang members themselves. That makes them difficult to deal with,” Cohen said.

Unfortunately, that is not the only problem. It has become more and more difficult, Samuels says, to find law-abiding citizens who are courageous enough to testify in court. Many are fearful of retaliation and decide that it is not worth the risk.

One of her current cases highlights the difficulty of gang members as witnesses and the unfortunate strength of the loyalties involved. A witness to the slaying of one of his own gang buddies at the hands of a rival gang member is now unwilling to testify. Ironically, it is his own gang he fears, and not the rival group. “You’d think he would be happy to convict a rival gang member, but that’s not the mentality,” Samuels explained. “They are not interested in using the system to rectify things. They want to handle it themselves.”

In these cases, it is often necessary to obtain immediate statements from gang members, while the slaying of their friend is fresh in their minds and before street loyalties overwhelm their grief. Subpoenas are used to force their appearance in court. Their prior statements can be used to impeach their testimony if they have later chosen to recant and refuse to cooperate with prosecutors.

Samuels’ casework so far shows that it is possible to obtain convictions even in situations in which the evidence appears thin or too troublesome to obtain. It is also important to note that the witnesses who have testified in her murder cases have never suffered retaliation.

Her most prominent case of late was a conviction in the only Valley-based murder case involving last year’s riot. One of the two witnesses in that case had to be tracked down in Mexico, and permission for his return here for testimony had to be negotiated with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. “The jury probably would have hung without his testimony,” Samuels says.

Most importantly, perhaps, Samuels has stories to relate that tell of unusual courage, such as the November, 1991, case of a 14-year-old Valley boy and his single mother, involving gang defendants Blinky and Muggsy. The 14-year-old had witnessed his brother’s slaying at the hands of the two defendants. The mother, Samuels recalls, “was very concerned about losing her other son through retaliation for his testimony. And the 14-year-old was threatened and people were showing up at his school, looking for him.”

Both mother and son overcame their fears, however, and the boy’s testimony led to first- and second-degree murder convictions. That serves as an admirable example for anyone who has or will witness a crime and is doubtful about reporting it and following it through with testimony in court.

Those victims of crime who are still waiting for an arrest and conviction can take heart from the following case involving an elderly man who was accosted and shot outside the Hughes Market at Burbank and Van Nuys boulevards. The man resisted and was able to drive himself to a hospital, where he later died. That left no crime scene, no leads, and no witnesses who were aware that they had just seen a murder. A year later, Samuels recalled, a man was busted on drug charges in San Bernardino and began to sing. Among other things, he told the story of a friend who called him one night in need of a ride, after having just shot an old man who wouldn’t give up his car. It was the first step on the way to another first-degree murder conviction.

“There is no statute of limitations on murder,” Samuels says. “It’s never too late.” Those are heartening words, much needed at a time when hope and courage seem to be in such short supply.