SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA / A news summary : The Local Review / DEVELOPMENTS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Man Pleads Guilty in Shooting of 2 LAPD Officers

A 47-year-old man with a history of depression pleaded guilty Wednesday to shooting two police officers with a semiautomatic weapon in a deal that will send him to prison for 32 years to life.

Reynaldo Rivera shot LAPD Officers Donald Boon and Manuel Solis with a now-banned Colt AR-15 assault rifle as they responded to a domestic violence call at Rivera’s Lake View Terrace home. Although Rivera squeezed off only one round before his weapon jammed, both officers were injured.

Deputy Public Defender Karen Richardson said her client agreed to the deal because it offers him the hope of parole. Even with credit for time served and the possibility of early release, Rivera will not be eligible for parole until 2025.

“It’s better than four life sentences,” which is what he faced if he lost the trial, Richardson said. “He’s happy.”

In exchange for the plea agreement, Deputy Dist. Atty. Darren Levine dropped charges of attempted murder.

Levine said he agreed to the deal because Rivera had no criminal record and had a history of mental illness, which would become an issue at trial. He also was extremely drunk at the time of the shooting, with a blood-alcohol level of 0.30%. The legal definition of intoxicated for driving purposes is a level of 0.08%.

“We’re pretty confident that he’s never getting out,” Levine said.

A mental health worker called police on Jan. 15, 1998, to report a “male mental domestic violence with a gun” at Rivera’s residence, Levine said. Rivera apparently had threatened to kill his wife and son, according to authorities.

Rivera, who Levine said had a history of depression, was suffering from financial difficulties in the weeks before the shooting, according to friends. Police described him as an unemployed laborer.

Boon, 33, was hit in the hip and was hospitalized for days. Solis, 25, received minor injuries to his face from flying bullet fragments or cinder-block particles.