Vick Case Shows System’s Problems

Judges ordered Joshua Vick last year to stay away from his ex-girlfriend and his parents, court records show, all of whom he is suspected of shooting to death last week, according to court records.

Vick was in Los Angeles Police Department custody Monday on suspicion of killing his parents, Gable and Mary Vick, on Friday and later abducting and killing his ex-girlfriend, Tesha Collins.

The alleged killing spree came a month after he was released from Los Angeles County Jail, because of overcrowding, after spending just three days there on a 60-day sentence.

Vick was wounded in a shootout with police in South Los Angeles on Saturday and captured. Collins was found shot to death near Vick’s car.

“It is like the perfect storm, with a lot of elements here producing a tragedy,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who has ordered an investigation into how the courts, probation authorities and Sheriff’s Department employees had failed to identify Vick as a potential danger.

Baca said the case was emblematic of the daily struggle of the justice system to identify and help violent offenders before they turn deadly.

Some 500 inmates are released from the jail system every day.

After his arrest last March on suspicion of assault, Vick should have been sent to a special program for domestic violence offenders within the jail, Baca said.

But neither prosecutors, the judiciary nor the probation department acted, the sheriff said.

“The public deserves better than this,” Baca said.

“This is a systemic failure ... we have a supermarket of justice, processing cases and not looking at the stories behind each individual.”

Vick’s parents and two other relatives obtained a restraining order against Vick the day after his arrest last year.

Vick was convicted of assault and placed on probation, then jailed in December for violating the terms of his release.

He was freed after three days on Dec. 13.

This was his second conviction in three years. Vick was convicted in 2002 for making terrorists threats.

Collins was repeatedly threatened by Vick, relatives said, and went to court for a restraining order last May and August.

Each time she won a temporary restraining order but failed to appear for further proceedings to get a permanent order, court records show.

“He was constantly stalking her, and she went to police often,” said her aunt, Patricia Don.

Vick allegedly abudcted Collins from a South Los Angeles education center at gunpoint Friday morning, hours after he allegedly killed his parents, police said.

Cheryl MacWillie, of the coroner’s office, said an autopsy showed that Collins suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

LAPD Assistant Chief George Gascon said that when officers came upon Vick about 9 a.m. Saturday during a traffic stop, an officer reported that he saw Vick shoot Collins.

Details on Vick’s probation violation, his release from jail and the numerous court orders against him were not available Monday.

Collins’ parents on Sunday criticized the decision to release Vick after serving three days. Because of underfunding and jail overcrowding, according to Baca, officials have released misdemeanor convicts such as Vick for years.

In the last year, inmates have been released after serving only 10% of their sentences.