L.A. County sheriff will examine unsolved homicides for links to slaying suspect

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Monday that it would review old unsolved homicide cases to determine whether any are linked to a man accused of four home invasion killings this fall in the South Bay.

The move came amid questions raised by The Times about how John Wesley Ewell was able to stay out of jail at the time of the killings even though he had recently been convicted of second-degree burglary for stealing from a Home Depot store.

Court records show that a judge allowed Ewell to twice postpone the start of a 32-month prison sentence for the theft so that he could undergo surgery. Sheriff’s officials say he underwent eye surgery. Ewell allegedly killed the four people during that delay. He has pleaded not guilty.

Documents reviewed by The Times show that Ewell had sought or obtained similar delays in two previous criminal cases.

In 1989, a judge turned down his written request for a two-week postponement so that he could attend to family matters after he was convicted of robbery.

In April 1995, court records show, Ewell pleaded guilty to check forgery in return for a seven-year prison sentence, but his formal sentencing was delayed for two years while he underwent treatment for back problems.

In that case, Ewell told a probation officer that he had three herniated discs in his lower back, a pinched nerve in his left leg and partial paralysis of his left front calf. Included in the court case file are records that show Ewell was treated for lower back pain at Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center before he was finally sentenced in June 1997.

Sheriff’s homicide Sgt. Stephan P. Rubino said the department would assign a crime analyst to review homicides during that two-year period in the 1990s to see whether any appeared similar to the ones for which Ewell is now accused.

“We’ll take a look at that time to see if there is anything else we need to look at,” Rubino said.

Ewell’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

Court records show that Ewell, 53, benefited several times from leniency in Los Angeles County’s criminal justice system.

READ THE DOCUMENTS: Read court documents from all of John Wesley Ewell’s three strikes cases.

This year, the Harbor Gateway hairstylist was allowed to remain free on bail despite being arrested and charged three separate times with stealing from Home Depot stores. Ewell’s bail was set at $20,000 in each case, even though the court’s recommended bail for someone with Ewell’s criminal history is more than $100,000.

Ewell’s criminal record, which included two robberies in the 1980s, also made him eligible for a 25-years-to-life prison sentence under the state’s three-strikes law if he was convicted of another felony, no matter how minor.

But the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office decided on four occasions — once in the mid-1990s and three times this year — against seeking the maximum sentence when Ewell was charged with new crimes.

Most prosecutors across the state use discretion in deciding when to seek potential life prison terms for three-strikers.

Since 2000, the L.A. County district attorney’s office has generally prohibited prosecutors from seeking possible life sentences when a defendant’s third strike is not serious or violent.

Earlier this month, Assistant Dist. Atty. Jacquelyn Lacey described the case as a “prosecutor’s nightmare” but defended her office’s three-strikes policy. She noted that Ewell’s violent crimes were more than two decades old and said it was impossible to predict from his record that he would turn violent.

richard.winton@latimes.com

jack.leonard@latimes.com