Denver Judge Sends Gang Member to L.A. : Courts: Man sentenced to rehab program says he has reformed. Some officials say he is a dangerous ‘chameleon.’

For years, Denver residents have accused Los Angeles of exporting its gang problem to their fair city.

Now, a Denver judge has sentenced a founder of Denver’s Rolling 30s Crips who was convicted of assaulting a police officer to a Los Angeles anti-gang program--over the strenuous objections of authorities who say the 26-year-old man is a dangerous “chameleon.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Tim Twining isn’t the only one worried that Los Angeles judges may reciprocate by shipping some of Los Angeles County’s 150,000 known gang members to the Mile High City.

“I have grave concerns that Los Angeles will look at this as our exporting problems to a place that already has plenty of trouble,” Twining said. “That is not a trade war that Denver has a chance of winning.”

Michael Asberry has reportedly been fired at 13 times, shot three times, stabbed once, sprayed with Mace three times by police officers, arrested 21 times and convicted of two felonies over the last seven years. He is expected to move to Compton this week to join the AmerICAN program operated by former football star Jim Brown.

Asberry has been advised by AmerICAN officials not to speak to the media. But in a brief telephone interview, he said: “I’m a changed man and I want to show that through my deeds.

“I’m not perfect. Since I was a juvenile, I’ve been going through turmoil,” said Asberry, who says he has been a victim of police harassment. “I’m a man of God now trying to make it to paradise, but [law enforcement authorities] don’t want to hear that.”

Indeed, Twining thought he had a long prison term cinched when Asberry pleaded guilty Sept. 5 to spitting on and kicking Denver Police Officer Paul Baca after a routine traffic stop escalated into a brawl.

“We thought the judge would hit him hard--send him to the joint for six years,” Twining said. “After all, this is about a cop doing his job getting assaulted by a notorious gangbanger.”

Instead, Denver District Judge Lynne Hufnagel succumbed to a last-minute plea from prominent anti-gang officials here and in Los Angeles who think Asberry is a bright young man with promise who just needs a chance to change.

Hufnagel sentenced Asberry to prison for six years, but suspended the sentence provided he joins AmerICAN and stays away from Colorado.

“I’m saving your life or a police officer from dying,” Hufnagel told Asberry at the sentencing hearing.

Never mind that Asberry is known in his working-class northeast Denver neighborhood as “Cyco Mike” because of his explosive temper. Or that Asberry helped found a chapter of Los Angeles’ Rolling 30s Crips here in 1985.

The AmerICAN program, Asberry’s supporters say, will turn him around.

In fact, he begged to go West. With the backing of Denver gang counselor the Rev. Leon Kelly and famed Los Angeles Probation Department Officer Jim (Kojak) Galipeau, he persuaded the judge to let him join the commercial corporation that actively solicits contracts with civic and private enterprises in pursuit of business opportunities for people in need.

AmerICAN operates in schools, prisons and juvenile facilities and focuses on teaching emotional control, communication skills, goal setting, family relationships, job search and employment retention.

Galipeau, who met Asberry 18 months ago and encouraged the transfer in a personal letter to Hufnagel, believes “Cyco Mike is kind of like burned out on the gang stuff.”

“He needs to get away from Denver to someplace where people aren’t after him,” he said, “where he has supervision and a chance to do something positive.”

As for the potential threat he poses to Los Angeles, Galipeau said: “One more [gang member] in South-Central Los Angeles won’t make any difference.”

“In Denver, Cyco Mike is a big fish in a small pond,” Galipeau said. “The gang members in South-Central are 10 times worse. When he gets to L.A., he won’t be able to hook up with the Crips to save his soul.”

Not everyone in the Los Angeles County Probation Department, which may accept responsibility for monitoring Asberry’s progress, agrees with Galipeau’s assessment.

“This is a ridiculous sentence,” said Deputy Probation Officer Willie Fobbs. “When I heard about it I asked, ‘What ------- did that?’

“I’m not one of those bleeding heart probation officers,” Fobbs said. “I believe when they do the crime, they should do the time.”

Baca agreed, adding that “Michael is a chameleon who plays to his audience.”

“This is not a young boy who hasn’t had a chance in life. This is a grown man who has done major crimes,” said Baca, who has had an eye on Asberry since 1984. “If a prosecutor’s case looks ugly, he gets smooth. If the case looks weak, he gets ugly and tries to shift the blame on cops and prosecutors by saying: ‘They’re out to get me.’ ”

“My biggest fear is that a cop in L.A. will run against him when he’s in his Mr. Hyde mode,” he added. “He’s an aggressive, unpredictable person, and I’m afraid someone is going to get hurt out there.”

Baca conveyed his concerns to Hufnagel in a letter that told of threats Asberry has made against him and his family.

“I will not take my family to certain Downtown functions because of the possibility of running into Michael or his crew,” Baca wrote. “We have a plan and are prepared for an ambush when we do go Downtown. In the past I have carried a five-shot revolver off-duty. Now, I carry a 14-shot pistol with an extra magazine to help ensure our safety.”

Kelly, a close friend of Asberry’s for over a decade, believes that Baca and other law enforcement authorities hold personal grudges against the man he regards as a “little brother” and reformed gangster. For the last few years, Asberry has voluntarily counseled troubled youths at Kelly’s Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives.

“He has become a threat to a number of agencies here because he has the power to control--he is a leader,” Kelly said. “We are trying to channel that power in a positive mode by using him to show kids who are infatuated with gangs that there is another side.

“I’d rather see Michael in a program like AmerICAN than locked up in prison,” Kelly added, “where he’d be eligible for parole in two years and possibly come out more angry and vengeful.”

In the meantime, Kelly conceded, Asberry “has a deficit we have to work on--he has to learn how to control his temper.”

Rudolph Johnson, chief executive officer of the AmerICAN program, is more concerned about the controversy that the unusual sentence has triggered.

“My office has been totally disrespected by Denver, Colo., and AmerICAN doesn’t appreciate that,” Johnson said. “We must deal with the positive, with why the judge made a move obviously earth-shaking for Denver: AmerICAN is a nationwide 15-chapter organization that teaches responsibility for life determination and that we are not cursed at birth.

“If he comes out here with the right attitude, he’s got the whole world waiting for him in Los Angeles,” Johnson said. “It’s all up to Mike.”

Claiming to be cured of the “demons that provoke us to do evil things,” Asberry said, “I’m a man who’s been in the penitentiary and has learned positive ways of problem-solving instead of violence. I’m not going to screw up.”