Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Group Ends Bid to Recall Judge

A grass-roots effort to recall a Superior Court judge who overturned a jury’s death penalty recommendation for the convicted murderer of a Santa Clarita man has ended, with organizers stating they were too small a group and too inexperienced to mount an effective campaign.

The core group of about eight people was seeking the recall of Judge Leon S. Kaplan, assigned to Van Nuys Superior Court. Fred Beach, chairman of the effort, said they were unable to reach enough people to form a strong base of support.

“We had no background in this stuff, so we kind of jumped into the system,” he said. “There’s a lot of stumbling blocks along the way.”

The group had 160 days--until March 30--to collect about 307,000 signatures--20% of the total that had voted for Kaplan in a 1986 election. They had collected less than 5,000.

“There’s no way we were even close,” he said.

The recall was initiated after Kaplan set aside the death penalty recommendation for Scott Forrest Collins, convicted of killing Fred Rose execution-style in January, 1992. Rose’s family and friends said the decision was motivated by Kaplan’s personal objection to the death penalty.

Kaplan’s ruling, made last April, has been challenged by prosecutors and is being reviewed by a state appellate court. If his ruling is upheld, a new penalty phase hearing will be scheduled.

Kaplan could not be reached Wednesday for comment. He said in a prepared statement issued at the beginning of the recall drive that his ruling was based on legal, not personal factors.

“Had (I) not followed the law, the case would have been sent back on appeal years later, after witnesses are lost and memories are forgotten,” he said in the statement.

Some legal officials predicted the recall group would face a daunting task because the trial was not widely publicized. Vicki Kyle, one of the recall proponents, said support in Santa Clarita was strong because people knew about the murder, but they couldn’t get enough people to campaign in other Southland cities.

“Those who stopped and listened were supportive,” she said. “The problem was that there weren’t 30,000 of us sitting out there.”

The group also had to contend with meeting the strict recall rules established by the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office, Beach said. The recall notice, for example, had to be drafted four times before its format was acceptable.

“They give you books and instructions, but they’re written for people who have expertise in this sort of thing, and we didn’t,” he said.

Recall organizers said they may attempt another campaign.