Despite Killing, Court Still Lacks Metal Detectors

To get to the murder trial of Woodland Hills physician Harry Zelig, spectators walk through two metal detectors, stripping themselves of belts, wallets, purses, watches--sometimes even shoes.

Such rituals have become part of the daily routine at the downtown Criminal Courts Building where Zelig is being tried. But, a block away at the civil courthouse where Zelig shot his wife, there are no metal detectors. Anyone can stroll in off the street, perhaps even carrying a gun as Zelig did Sept. 1, 1995.

Nearly 18 months after Zelig ended a caustic divorce battle by pulling out a .38-caliber revolver and shooting his former wife, Eileen, in front of dozens of horrified bystanders, four metal detectors purchased for the civil courts building sit in storage. Zelig does not deny shooting his wife, but contends it was not intentional; at his murder trial he testified that her taunts caused him to “explode” with rage.

Each metal detector costs less than $2,000. But the $2 million it would cost to set them up and staff them has kept the machinery idle in the midst of a county budget crisis.

The weapons screening devices were supposed to be up and running this year, said Los Angeles County Superior Court Officer John A. Clarke. But an unexpected delay in the county’s receipt of about $50 million from the state has stalled security efforts at the busy civil courts building in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

It is one of just three Los Angeles County Superior Court buildings without metal detectors. The other two are in Burbank and Malibu.

Since the Zelig shooting prompted court and government officials to demand better security, metal detectors and X-ray machines have been installed or upgraded at courthouses in Pomona, Compton, Long Beach, Pasadena, Santa Monica and Van Nuys. Work recently began on the security system in the Antelope Valley. In setting priorities, officials ranked the courthouses according to size, cost of the job and the number of courtrooms devoted to criminal and juvenile cases, which are considered the highest risk.

No agency tracks courthouse shootings on a statewide or national basis. But, they seem to come in cycles, inevitably refocusing attention on security. There were at least a dozen shootings at courthouses across the country in 1993. And a 1988 shooting at the Van Nuys courthouse led a countywide task force to recommend better security and weapons screening.

*

Meanwhile, Eileen Zelig’s parents, acting on behalf of her three children, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county, contending that officials should have known about the danger posed by the “inherently contentious” divorce and custody proceedings at the civil courthouse. The suit seeks damages and a court order requiring that metal detectors and other security equipment be installed.

But plans to beef up security at the civil courthouse have been stalled by a months-long funding stalemate in Sacramento. The controversy over what share of court costs the state should pay has left Los Angeles County’s Superior Court system with a $50-million shortfall.

The $50 million comes from fines and other fees paid to the court, collected by the state and then redistributed to the counties, Clarke said. But, since the state fiscal year began July 1, the money has been sitting in an account in Sacramento, tied up by the larger dispute over whether the state should keep its promise to provide counties with 70% of the total cost of funding for trial courts.

Last summer, the Assembly recessed without resolving the issue, freezing the money, including the $2.3 million needed to provide weapons screening at the Los Angeles civil courthouse, Clarke said.

“It’s sad,” said Judge Victor E. Chavez, the assistant presiding judge for the Los Angeles County Superior Court system. “We do try to have a presence with deputies wandering the halls, but that’s not enough if somebody is emotionally distraught and has a weapon of some sort.”

*

Judges’ concerns over courthouse security “long preceded that shooting,” Chavez said. “We thought maybe that unfortunate occurrence would encourage the powers that be to give us the funds.”

Indeed, just days after the 1995 shooting, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky sponsored a motion to find ways to fund metal detectors and other security measures for the county’s Municipal and Superior court buildings.

The design of the Hill Street civil courthouse makes security particularly expensive. Most of the 17 entrances would be locked, while the four that remained open would need surveillance cameras, metal detectors and X-ray machines, Clarke said. Each X-ray machine costs about $23,800; they too have been purchased and are in storage.

Now, the civil courthouse sits at the top of the priority list as the next round of state and county budgeting looms. But nobody is making any promises about when the money might be sprung loose and the metal detectors can come out of storage.

Despite the delays securing the civil courts building, Clarke said, other, less expensive improvements have been made at other courthouses since the Zelig shooting.

“We haven’t been sitting around doing nothing,” Clarke said. “In 12 of our buildings we began or finished security systems and have them up and running. But we have to keep the doors open to our 330 courtrooms. A number of our projects will have to wait until next year.”

*

Meanwhile, Chavez says, the state’s three-strikes law has sent a large number of criminal cases to the civil courthouse. Last week, he said, 15 of the 50 civil courtrooms were being used for criminal cases.

The metal detectors at other courthouses have swept up a large number of weapons. Consider: From Long Beach to Lancaster, Pomona to Santa Monica, 704 weapons--including six guns--and other contraband were snagged by the metal detectors and confiscated in 1996, Sheriff’s Lt. Roger Mayberry said. And 29,802 people were denied entry to the county’s courthouses after refusing to give up their knives, scissors, Mace, liquor, brass knuckles or other prohibited items.

But at the civil courts building, roving deputies confiscated just five weapons, Mayberry said.

“Imagine the ones they’re not catching here,” Chavez said. His office is in the civil courthouse.