LOS ANGELES : Judge Rejects Officer’s Bid to Void Murder Charge

A judge refused Friday to dismiss a murder charge against a veteran police officer who shot a tow truck driver while on duty, rejecting a claim that the attorney-client privilege was breached.

William Kopeny said that two conversations Deputy Dist. Atty. Katherine Mader had with Deputy City Atty. Don Vincent, who was representing Officer Douglas Iversen in a civil lawsuit brought by the dead man’s family, violated his client’s due process rights.

The talks came to light when Mader turned over notes of a phone conversation she had with Vincent on April 14, 1993, two months before charges were filed against Iversen, 44.

Mader testified she called Vincent to find out why the lawsuit with the late John L. Daniels’ family was settled out of court. The city paid Daniels’ wife, Michelle, and his two children $1.2 million.

In her notes, the prosecutor wrote that Vincent gave her several reasons for the settlement: to protect the officer from punitive damages; the community thought the shooting of the black tow truck driver by a white police officer was outrageous, and that a reasonable basis for the shooting could not be determined.

Iversen says that he saved lives when he shot Daniels on July 1, 1992, at a gas station on Crenshaw Boulevard and Florence Avenue. The veteran motorcycle officer said he was trying to check the truck’s registration because he suspected the vehicle was unregistered. He said Daniels refused and it appeared he would run down pedestrians in the gas station driveway if he were allowed to drive off.

Prosecutors say the shooting was unjustified. They allege Iversen lost his temper when Daniels refused to submit to the officer’s authority.